Beacon 6k race and 9th Super Series race – It was a record breaker
What a wonderful Super Series race we had as 21 female and 29 male athletes took part in the 9th Super Series race. For the first time in many years, we actually had some decent running weather and not the usual brick wall of wind on the return leg. With the conditions being a little more favourable this year, we hoped on some good times for our athletes and we were not disappointed.
Just seeing the faces as our athlete’s crossed the line made me realise that they had left it all out on the course and that they could not have tried any harder. I know there were many who were really pleased with their times and so they should be.
Again I would like to give praise to the volunteer team that made themselves available to help put this event on. Without their help then we could not put this event on and that goes for all of our club races so if you are not able to race, please do consider stepping forward to volunteer as it makes a huge difference to the race organiser’s and to your club members.
On to the race results, the women’s race was not an easy one to call before the race as to what the top 3 would look like. Well they did not disappoint with some excellent times although the course record of 21.41 held by Caroline Hoyte still stands.
First home was Tara Shanahan who has been relentless over the last couple of years as she kept up her winning ways with a time of 22.26. In 2nd place was from a lady who has been on an upward direction over the last couple of years and her improvement has been immense, we are of course talking about Helen Moss. Helen’s time of 22.32 wasn’t too far behind Tara. Finally in 3rd place was the ever-present Dani Tarleton who gave it a solid shot on 22.40 and was very complimentary of Helen Moss’ result as Helen edged her into 4rd place.. Hats off to our top 3 women on some formidable running and top results.
In the men’s race, very few would have bet against the very in form Timmy Gedin winning this. Needless to say no sooner had the last group set off with a 12 minute offset, we blinked and Timmy was already coming back over the finishing line. Timmy’s time of 19.48 broke the course record, formally held by Richard Clayton in 20.21 in 2016. It really was a lesson of how to attack a race and Timmy was relentless all the way to the finishing line and really didn’t look too knackered. 2nd place was taken by Henry Miller who is another of our athletes who has really grown over the last 2-3 years and his improvement has been inspiring to many. He has grown in confidence and it’s great to see him now really competing with the best in our club and going on and above. Henry’s time was 21.15. In 3rd place was James Risdale who, not so long ago was out with an injury. Again great to see Jim back in the mix and a time of 21.21 just saw him behind Henry but a well-deserved top 3 placing.
All the results will be put up on the website.
A reminder of some of the key races coming up: The next Super Series race is The Barns Green Half Marathon on September 29th, this is also part of the Run Store Road Race Challenge series.
There is the WSFRL race on September 22nd and the Sussex XC Relays at Goodwood on September 28th. You can find all details of the upcoming races under the events tab on the Arena website.
