Race Date: Friday 23rd May 2025

Jonathan Smith, delighted with knocking 24 seconds off his existing pb, reports on his experience on this fast, flat event which attracts a quality field.

“Having been told the course was fast by a handful of people, following a recce run a few weeks earlier while over in that neck of the woods, I wasn’t as confident so it was the usual race anxiety! Travelling across with fellow Steel City Sergei Shkul together with his son Evan (Hallam) plus Paul Faulkner (Hallam) from the Thursday track group there was a bit of nervous energy in the car but it really helped make the journey less stressful travelling together.

Paul, Evan, Sergei and Jon.

On the start line, chatting with a friend who lives over that way and was aiming for a mid-17min time, the dice were rolled going with him resulting in an on target 3:22 split on the downhill start and managing to hold with 3:33 to 3:35 pace in the middle section with its slight incline. In previous races of this kind, I would often be comfortable just sitting on a shoulder, but I tried to go past others to keep the pace where I needed it to be. The finish was a 3.18 final km on the downhill with the vast amount of people going down the final straight together definitely helping me leave it all out there.

Booked again for August! Would definitely recommend for anyone looking to chase a new 5km pb. A fast course and a fast field where you’re never running solo. Evan showed us all how it was done running 16:43.” (Strava gives a total elevation of around 20m so hardly mountainous.)