Leigh Church reports: The Foundation for Conductive Education 10 K in Canon Hill Park (a BvH grand prix event) took place on Nov 4 with a small but evident BvH presence.
This event for those that don’t know, is a great local race, on familiar ground, and for a great cause. This year saw a record number of entrants (168) taking part on a very cold and slightly damp early Sunday morning.
For me it was only mildly better than forcing myself out of bed for a Coften Park XC training session on a Saturday morning which I’ve yet to manage this year, despite hopefully taking part in the first XC race next week (Oops).
Anyhow, the CE 10 K was another boost to my confidence on my return to running following two knee operations which have prevented me from running for the past two years. Thus summer has been all about slowly building up my distance and confidence and began with the BvH killer mile, and continued with the Leafy 10 and BvH half.
At the start I spoke to Marianne and I think/hope possibly spurred her on by insulting her as I suggested that as Andy Wheeler was too fast for me I would try to run with her. What I meant to say was that I’d be really chuffed if I could manage to stay close to her and she would be my motivation during the run. Suffice to say the race started and Marianne shot off like a rocket (possibly with a point to prove) but left me for dust.
The start of the race is down hill and is a nice start but can lull you into running too quickly, hence my first 5k split was 21.19, the second 5K was considerably slower. The route takes you out and back along the river Rea, which gives you a chance to encourage the other BvHers and it was nice to get a few shouts back.
Andy Wheeler was in good form and was the first BvHer back. The Ladies had an impressive run with Marianne Hensman, the first BvH lady and I believe from the result table, possibly also classified as the first women (confusion only because there was a woman leading but she may not have finished). The ladies also secured the team prize as well, a fantastic achievement!
I managed to finish down in 50th with a time of 44:32, two and a half minutes slower than the pre-knee surgery time I ran in 2009 but hopefully a sign I’m heading in the right direction.
It’s a great race and I would urge other BvHers to take part next year, especially as it’s on the GP list of events.
Results (PDF)
Thankyou Leigh for your FCE 10k Report.I was pleased to learn that you are steadily recovering from your two knee operations. Congratulations to ALL the 16 BvHers who successfully completed the 10k distance,which included my wife Katie and son David.Also,it was gratifying to see BvH Ladies win the Team Prize. And,as Orlando has observed,there were some good AC performances.
Barrie
Congratulations on some great age cat wins and performances.
Leigh, I am sure you will go from strength to strength. See you at Cofton!
Great race and very well organised and thankyou for the support on the way round it was nice to hear my name being called out as i was running.Also happy I was in a winning team and got a pb too,definatley worth the yummy cake to celebrate.A very worthwhile cause too,nice one martin.
A splendid race (- although I may be a little biased as I won my age category and got a PB as well as being in the ladies winning team and was therefore absolutely delighted with the whole event 🙂 )Strong performances from many Harriers and excellent fruit cake! A big thank you to Martin for organising this, others who helped out and the fantastic support on the course 🙂
This is the 3rd year I have run the CE 10k and as usual it was well organised and run with friendly encouraging marshalls, a water point at halfway and water, bananas and goody bags at the end to revive those in need as I was. It was fantastic to see our ladies Marianne, Suz and Jude win the ladies team prize particularly when 3 of our other top ladies were running in the national XC at Mansfield.I think a pointer that BVH is developing strength in depth. Coffee, tea and yummy home made cakes were available at Cannon hill House, the FCE HQ. Definitely worth a score of 10/10. Thank you to everyone involved in the event and for turning out on a cold morning. The FCE should have made a good amount for the brilliant work that they do with children and adults.