Race Date: Sunday 1st July 2025

Organised by Tape2Tape, this race consistently receives good reports. Fast, flat and with few turns Stephen Schubeler reckons that this is a potential pb course although the dead straight stretch from 6k to 9k seemed “very long” as Rebecca Pierce put it so may not to be everyone’s taste. Medal for everyone but if you want a t-shirt to stuff into the drawer already full of the damned things you’ll have to cough up an extra £10.50 whilst the jury is still out on the free doughnut that all finishers were offered. On the day it was warm and the at times stiff breeze didn’t really seem to help. Not the most scenic of routes but well supported, especially in the stretches through the town and at the finish in Peoples Park with impromptu feed stations and the offer of cooling hosepipe showers.

Talking with Louise Rowley after the race, she was unsure whether she had won the F70 prize as she had seen someone who looked older go past but as it turned out her gun time was over twelve minutes quicker than her nearest rival. (To trouble the scorers it’s first past the post that counts.) Louise is originally from Louth so dealt with the hour plus drive and early start with an overnight stay. For those who made trip that morning there is free parking in the town centre, near the start but a mile from the finish, but some competitors got stuck in a traffic jam in the multi-storey car park which was already full by 08:15. With the other multi storey also full it was therefore a trying not to panic search to find somewhere to leave the car. Starting the warm up at 08:40 after a long drive and a bag of stress is hardly great preparation so leave plenty of time for this one.