Report by Caroline Brash

Race Date: Sunday 21^st May 2023

“If we get a heatwave (we’re not expecting one!)…” said the race information pack. Dear reader! There was indeed a heatwave.

Whilst lots of Striders were gathered for the Dronfield 10k and the Steel City 10k, a couple of us were in Sunny Scunny, with the aim of getting me a 10k PB. My fastest time of 52:33 (rubbish for some I know, but pretty blooming awesome for me) had been back in 2017 when I was practically a teenager. It seemed a pretty tall order, what with me now being 6 years older and a couple of stone heavier BUT the awesome Brash-Liddle combo had not only succeeded in training for and running TWO marathons each in six months; we had smashed my PB at Sheffield Half in March; and we’d both run our best 10k times in six years in Dewsbury in February. Ok, I’d not really trained for a fast (for me) 10k to be honest, but WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?!

Turns out, quite a lot actually…

• It was hot and sunny, with relatively little shade;
• It started at 11am. As someone who likes to eat early, run early (6am is a usual starting time for a Sunday long run) and then have a little nap, the timings were all out for me;
• It was flat. Sounds counter-intuitive but as someone who has always really run in Sheffield I’m quite good at running up hills and enjoy the benefits of the inevitable downhills. These never happened in Scunthorpe;
• I set off too fast. My “good” runs tend to involve negative splits and I just couldn’t maintain the pace.

I was whingeing at 1km; and had pretty much given up at 5k. John had been pacing me fantastically, encouraging me despite my constant moaning, and by the drinks station at just after 5k I knew I’d blown it big time. I slowed significantly and at the 6k marker I “encouraged” John to do his own thing from that point on, and whilst I slowed to a walk for elements of the final 4k, he increased his average pace from 8:30 minute miles to 7:30 minute miles, incorporating much overtaking and not being passed by a single runner. I was in quite a different place, and hated the rest of it, other than the family spraying runners with a hosepipe at one point in the final couple of kilometres.

I shuffled over the line, utterly disappointed in my own performance and feeling very guilty that I’d held up my running buddy and probably preventing him from getting a really decent time. Hey-ho – I drowned my sorrows in the delicious mocktail and cookie provided to all finishers alongside the cool wooden medal, and we wandered back to the Sports and Social Club where we’d left our bags. The bar was open and a pint of bitter shandy was impossible to resist!

The race itself was fabulous. As always with Curly’s it was brilliantly organised, and it being the inaugural event (I understand it was a reworking with an entirely new route of a race that used to take place in Scunthorpe) it was a bit of an unknown quantity. Numbers were limited to 650 this year, but with plans to increase that in the future (up to 1200 for 2024). There was a lot of local support out on route (Scunthorpe and District Running Club were very well represented  – I ran near “Tony” for much of the event and he go a lot of shout outs!). Local celebrity, pantomime dame “Annie Fanny” started the race and also took part, finishing in 1:09:48 which was remarkable considering the frock she was sporting! I suspect in the right conditions this could be a very fast race indeed.

First finisher was Elliott Stones in 32:16, and first female was Ali Hoyle in 39:16 (clubs are not obvious from the results). I think three Striders took part, but it was quite difficult to tell from the results so forgive me if I’ve got this wrong/ missed anyone: