On a hot day, 27 26.2 members popped up at Bedfont Lakes for the club 5k championship. We saw some great times despite the temperature and, I think I am right in saying, new winners in each category. Warm congratulations to Daniel Harris and Katherine Wilson for being first home for the club, with maximum GP points each. Katherine is also the club 5k champion, while Jack is the male champion – Daniel, as a second claim member, is eligible for GP points but not for club championships, not that that should detract in any way from an excellent run. New member Gordon Reid took the men’s age graded by some distance, with Katherine Wilson making it a double in the women’s.

Bedfont Lakes parkrun was decided as the venue for this year’s championship by popular request, and luckily so given that the other candidate, the Wimbledon 5k, was cancelled. Well done group brain! Bedfont is a lovely venue, albeit not the easiest of runs, with some undulations and with a gravelly surface that is gruelling over time. It was, therefore, particularly impressive to see such strong times, with the first 8 men and the first lady all under the 20 minute barrier. My statto head gives special congratulations to Daniel, Jack, Kevin Parker, Gordon and Libby, who were all within a minute of their recent handicap times – theoretically, the extra 200m of the 5k should take around a minute, so given that the 5k was run on a slower surface , that’s great running.

Several runners were grouped together round the course. At the front, Daniel had Jack for company for about 4.5k before Daniel was able to shake him off at the end, Libby and Zoe had a good tussle, with only 8 seconds separating them at the end, and Kevin Parker, Dominic, Katherine, Alasdair and Rob grouped well just as we hope to in a cross country match, with just 22 seconds between them. Great to see that it only takes a shorter race to have the semi-retired back in club colours, and both Dominic and Dave Wilson showed a turn of pace envied by those around them to finish strongly.

Well done all – the next grand prix is the Maidenhead half marathon, enter online at http://www.purplepatchrunning.com/races/pharmalink-maidenhead-half-marathon

Full Grand Prix standings available in the downloads section.