Szala sets new club record
Runners back on the track
The Ironbridge Runner 3k race series is run on the track at Exeter Arena on the first Monday of the month from October until March next year.
It regularly attracts over 100 entries who are split into five graded races so that each race is highly competitive. This Monday saw good conditions with a mild evening and only a headwind on the back straight making things slightly uncomfortable.
All the Sidmouth runners who took part last month improved their times with Zak Francis coming down to 11.20 from 11.56. He still sets off too quickly but once he gets his pacing right will improve more.
Kit and Grey Grierson knocked 17 and 14 seconds off respectively for times of 10.14 and 10.49 but whilst Grey was battling it out midfield his older brother led from the front all the way in the B race - a great solo effort winning by a substantial margin but not easing off at all. He may well find himself in the A race next month with the big boys.
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Matthew Szala, making his first appearance on the track for Sidmouth, quickly set about breaking the club record for the distance. His 9.30 knocked a few seconds of Graham Hill’s effort of a few years back, largely achieved by a blistering 67 second last lap.
Also in the A race, Milan Goc trimmed 18 seconds off and just missed out on breaking the 10 minute barrier by a mere four seconds.
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Guy Bennett tasted the track for the first time but, despite getting blocked a few times, ran pretty consistently to record a very satisfactory debut time of 10.53.
Bill Valentine and John Perratt, in contrast, were just grateful to scrape though into the D race. If we can keep out of the E, that is sufficient success for us!
Next month the third leg of the series will be on Monday, December 6, with the first race at 7.15 pm
