Evesham Vale 10k

Sunday 12th July 2009

A Very Good Day Out for B&R

A friendly, mostly flat course, encouraged over 600 runners to run around scenic Evesham. Starting in the town centre, the course entered Abbey Park to be welcomed by the live band playing ‘Down by the Riverside’. Very soon, tarmac gave way to a mix of the riverside path, some field paths and then more road before returning along the river (the bank not the water) and finishing below the Abbey.

Warm drizzle before the start and during the early miles did nothing to dampen the spirits of the ten B & R runners led by Rich Malin. As the sun came through, Rich was first man home beating the course record time by 4 seconds but only having broken away from the second man in the final ½k. Meanwhile, the Lanckhams enjoyed a family battle with Simon just pipping Kevin by 4 secs in a sprint finish to come home 9th and 10th respectively and at this stage B & R were well in contention for the team prize (4 to count).

And we didn’t have long to wait to cement the prize with Gavin Moorhead coming in 29th and in an excellent time having been pushed for long periods of the race by our next finisher, Mark Appleton.

The Club’s first lady home was Jeanette Malin (5th lady on the day) who proved that getting lost around Merry Hill after the last vets meeting was just a one-off. Mark Walton and Tracey Jones then both finished strongly having been led by yours truly for much of the race before Yvonne Priestman, having lost time retrieving her cap in mid race, brought the Club home in fine style.

B & R Club member, Chris Taylor, running on this occasion for Evesham Vale RC also finished well placed in a good time.

The race was well organised and the course well marshalled with plenty of support along the route. Free apples, tomatoes and soft drinks were readily available for runners after the race. Those who remained for the presentation then enjoyed two further rewards.

Firstly, there was an interesting interview with England International, Emma Powderam (first lady and 19th overall in 38:03), who ran the race as a sprint as part of her training for a forthcoming 100km event. And I thought 10k was a long way!!

The second was free strawberries and cream and needless to say Rich Malin was first in the queue for these.

All in all, a very enjoyable day and a must do fixture again for next year.

Len Quartly

B&R Results (612 finishers)

1.      Rich Malin                33:55

9.      Simon Lanckham      36:32

10.    Kevin Lanckham       36:36

16.    Chris Taylor              37:55

29.    Gavin Moorhead       39:35

48.    Mark Appleton          40:48

73.       Jeanette Malin          42:37

200.      Mark Walton           47:51

207.   Tracey Jones            48:19

220.    Len Quartly             48:44