Richard Clayton sweeps the club records.

Now that’s how you wrap up your running season! Does this now put Richard as one of the all-time greats in terms of Arena club records? Richard having already conquered the clubs 5k, 10k, a couple of parkruns, listed 2nd in the half marathon only behind Aussie international John Schaab and now adds the club 10 miler to the tally and all done in 2018. It’s an incredible achievement from this man who has just gone on to another plateau this year. It surely doesn’t get any better than this.
Richard didn’t just break the 10 mile club record, he completely smashed it with an incredible time of 55.15 as he took 4th place at the Bright10. He overtakes Al Silvester’s awesome time of 57.21 also set at the Bright10 in 2016.  Richard had made his intentions very clear at the beginning of the year when he broke the Preston parkrun club record way back in February and he hasn’t stopped since. PB’s and club records have been like sweets to him as he’s been helping himself to them over the year. I’m not sure how his legs have stood it and I’m sure they haven’t appreciated it either however it’s time for a rest. Richard said “it’s time to give the legs a good rest for 2 to 3 weeks (a rest in my books is about 6 months give or take a year) before the London Marathon Championship opens in November and then everything gears up to April 28th”.
Congratulations Richard on such a fine achievement and what a pleasure it’s been watching the progression over the last two years. Your records are a fine achievement which has come from a lot of hard work and training that has gone on in the background to the races. Great to see it has all paid off and you are now the man to beat with those club records.
We will also congratulate a new addition to the men’s 10 mile club records as a certain young man who has also had a big rise in the clubs ranking this year which goes to Aled Anderson. Like Richard, Aled has had a stormer of a year and has got stronger and stronger as the year has gone one. How wonderful to see this pay off as Aled takes the 5th spot on the club records with his new PB time of 58.48 which was a brilliant 5th place at the Bright10.
This is how the new men’s club records look:
1 Richard Clayton SM Bright10 2018 55m 15s
2 Al Silvester SM Bright10 2016 57m 21s
3 Gary McKivett SM Oldbury10 2016 57m 40s
4 James Dicks SM Bright10 2017 58m 42s
5 Aled Anderson SM Bright10 2018 58m 48s
I would also like to put a special mention out to Del Wallace who took a huge 2 minutes off his 10 mile PB today with a time of 59.30 which was so close to making the club record’s. I think it’s easy to forget that Del first sport is as a jockey but jeez that man can turn on some pace.
There is a new addition to the ladies 10 mile club records as Maisie Trafford took a brilliant 2nd place at the Bright10 with a superb time of 60.58. It’s a great comeback from Maisie who has been plagued with injuries this year but has now put herself well and truly on the map again. This time has put Maisie in to 4th place in the club records in what is a difficult distance to get in to the club records with many long-standing records being there for literally decades. Congratulations Maisie on a superb race and a superb time.  
This is how the new women’s club records look:
10 Miles Women
1 Caroline Hoyte SW Sandiacre 1998 56m 40s
2 Fiona Clark SW Portsmouth 2009 58m 12s
3 Emily Proto SW Bright10 2015 59m 35s
4 Maisie Trafford Bright10 2018 60m 58s
5 Tracy Owen SW Hailsham 1994 61m 11s
In terms of all of the other results from the Bright10, well it was a big of a haul for Arena today with no less than 8 podium finishers.
Is there no stopping Tara Shanahan this year? Again she takes to the streets and knocks out another PB with a time of 62.36 and took 1st place in the 40-49 category along with 4th lady overall.
Dani Tarleton not wishing to miss out on the party wither posted a new PB time of 63.29 as she took her place on the podium as 2nd female in the 40-49 category just behind Tara. Dani was 7th lady overall.
Superb to see Emily Proto back on track again as she came home as 3rd lady in a time of 61.38 which is her quickest time since 2015. She is clearly loving her running at the moment and a new-found love in her training runs.
In terms of progression this year then I’m delighted to see the steady rise of Yvonne Patrick as it culminated with her first podium finish as she took 3rd lady in the F60 category with a time 85.48. Yvonne has worked so hard this year at training and great to round of the season with this podium finish.
Keeping with the ladies as we move from the SW/VET’s to a junior in the Arena ranks and one to watch for the future maybe. We must say huge congratulations to Lucy May-Richardson who came home as 1st U20 in a time of 70.30. Lucy is another of our athletes who has recently been plagued with an injury but she has been sensible in her approach to getting back to full strength and it all paid off handsomely for her today.
Not be out done as we had a couple of men take to the podium as well. Congratulations to John Orden who took an excellent 2nd place and Michael Miller an excellent 3rd place in the M60 categories. This really does prove how much strength we have this in club as we span many age categories.
As we dissect the results a little more, it reads for a very happy and healthy story for our Arena 80 club:
The Arena ladies placed 5 ladies in the top 10 with Katherine O’Hara completing our 5 ladies with her 10th place overall and a 4th place in the F40 with a time of 66.26. Soulla wright was 5th in the F40 in a time of 66.45 and 11th overall. Katie Wright was 12th overall and 4th in the F30-39 in a time of 66.55.
There were some fine individual runs out on the course today and none more so than Anthony Snelling and Teo Van Well who both posted new PB’s with 61.20 and 62.28 respectively.
We must put a big shout out to Steve McNealy who has had a phenomenal racing year as he came home in 63.39 as 4th man in the M50 category.
With these results today I feel it’s fair to say that Arena 80 ac may well retained the Harvey Curtis Cup team trophy for the third year running!! Of course we will need to wait for the official standings to be released but if it does stand true, what an incredible achievement from everyone involved with our club. We’ll put the champagne on ice for the time being until its official.
A massive well done to everyone who got out there today and ran for Arena, for those that achieved more than they hoped for, for those with new PB’s, for those gaining podium places, for those hitting the club records, for those supporting our club, it was one hell of a day for us all.
The views expressed in this post are those of the website administrator only and not those of Arena 80 AC.