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Evesham Festive 10k.
Report – David Jones
This was a scenic and muddy 10K off-road route that started from Evesham United FC ground and headed out across the fields, around the lanes and orchards before finishing back at the football club.
This year those fields were so muddy that they were reminiscent of a cross between The Somme and the muddiest Glastonbury ever.
These appalling conditions did not deter a quartet of Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club’s finest ladies and a solitary male club member from competing, picking up a couple of prizes along the way to reward their efforts.
For Kate Wright this was her first competitive 10k race for 12 months, when she competed in the same race last December. Last year she finished 2nd woman, this year she went one better by being first female to cross the finishing line, in a time of 46.14, beating her closest rival by 40 seconds and coming 11th overall.
James Coy finished in 32nd place with a time of 50.52.
Next it was a brace of Stratford’s finest, with Rebecca Pridham and Hannah Osborne crossing the line together in a time of 1:03.43. Rebecca commented “ It was a ridiculously muddy and wet course, you either ran through mud or water or both! The start was in pouring rain and a chilly wind which made many of us wonder why on earth we were standing in the middle of a field on the outskirts of Evesham on a Sunday morning!
The route was all off-road taking us through fields, past streams, over bridges and through orchards.
Hannah and I ran together, singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas as we crossed the finishing line and we were followed by Kate Sergent, with a massive smile on her face.
It was a brilliant event, as we received medals, mulled wine (or hot ribena) with a selection of cakes, including bread pudding, chocolate cake, Victoria sponge and mince pies.
It was a very friendly, well marshalled event and was super fun and highly recommended at £13 for the event!”
Kate Sergent completed the course in 1:09.12, coming 1st in her age category, beating her closest rival by a massive 8 minutes. Kate was also only 45 seconds slower that last year, despite her describing it as one of the toughest races she has ever competed in.
The race was won by Owen Grant in a time of 40.02 and 204 competitors completed the course.
Did I mention that it was muddy ?
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