CANCER RESEARCH LONDON WINTER RUN 10K
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Cancer Research UK London Winter Run 10km Sunday 4th February 2018 We were pleased to open the curtains to Sunday morning and see that the rain had dried out from the previous day – it’s a winter 10km in the UK so pretty much anything could have happened weather wise and we were very lucky with sunshine. 20,000 runners had signed up with the organisers promising support from penguins, wolves, polar bears and yetis. We were issued with start times in separate waves and were told that we could move back a wave but not forwards. Karen and Tim were in an earlier wave to me so moved back to mine so we could all start together. We walked down The Mall to Trafalgar Square where we could drop bags off and join the back of the queue. The queue was huge but snaked through to the start point very quickly. Bin bags were provided by the organisers to wear pre-run to save freezing in the queue – Tim and I saved a bag for use at the end of the course whilst waiting for our coats. There didn’t seem to be any way for the organisers to know whether we started in an early or late wave as there were no ‘time’ holding pens, just join the queue and crack on. So crack on we did! Karen was off like a rocket weaving her way through the runners, followed by myself and Tim and it was great fun weaving through. Even with the large volume of runners it didn’t feel too hemmed in and there were plenty of opportunities to move ahead of others without feeling frustrated. It was fabulous to be able to run through London in a closed road event and we all reminded ourselves to look up and around at the iconic roads and buildings in the metropolis. There were distance signs along the course which was very helpful, plus an array of musical distractions including (but not limited to) a choir and a steel band. There were plenty of marshals on the course, including the promised wintery animals. The end of the route signed the last 1km and 500m so there was a chance to up the sprint pace to the finish line before collecting the all-important medal. Marshals were very generous in handing out food and drink (coconut water, water, Soreen, and a protein bar) in as much quantity as needed. Once we were reunited with our warm clothes we had a chance to review our times and the organisers had sent a text message of official time almost immediately of crossing the finish line. We all did better than expected, Karen got a 10km PB, I was happy with a decent time considering recent illness and not running since Wymondham Jan 1st 10km, and Tim could hardly walk the previous weekend and finished fifteen minutes earlier than he predicted. The course, however, turned out to be more like 11km (although I guess this just means it was better value for money?!!). In summary, it seemed a well organised event and it was a proud day for us to be wearing orange for The Jags.
RACHAEL COLE
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| Name | Time | PBs | Standards |
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| Karen Evans | 53.40 | YES | Bronze |
| Racheal Cole | 1.01.30 |