O.O'Brien

After the recent successful 10K races I’ve been running (Victoria Park, Reigate Priory and best of all the Great Capital Run) I was looking forward to this 5K race, on a closed course through the streets of the City of London.

Unfortunately this was not a great race at all – there was something missing in the atmosphere. The worst thing though was the crowds. No waves, and a narrow start, followed by a narrow course (why did they block off half the street for the first 1km?) meant I spent much of the race weaving around and overtaking people. I started about 3000 people back and overtook 2500 them to finish 577th of 4400 runners. The course seemed to bizarrely miss most of the famous streets and sights of the city – e.g. I never saw the Royal Exchange as we approached it from the back! I also didn’t see any of the kilometre markers except the 3km one, and was greeted at the finish by people yelling at us to keep moving on. There wasn’t much to do after the finish either – the bar was for the sponsor – who had completely plastered their logo over everything – way too in-your-face – and their guests only. So people soon left.

I could continue moaning about the lack of a bag drop, no lucozade in the finishing bag (although the nuts and beef jerky were – if unusual – appreciated), no photos available on the website, no single list of results. Fair enough if the event was £5 to enter but £25!? After the Great Capital Run the weekend before, I know these mass participation races can work.

SLOW put on something a bit different over the summer months, when the south London vegetation is too tall for any serious orienteering. In a couple of week’s there’s Clued-O, and a few days ago there was the very first UK Mobile-O!

This consisted of teaming up in a pair. One person sat at the start with a map and mobile phone, directing the other person who had to run around the course with compass but no map. It was really good fun – I ran first. I made a very silly mistake early on – getting my east and west mixed up! Thankfully my guider was able to “relocate” me after I gave a detailed visual description of where I had ended up. As a runner, it was frustrating to be told to “go north” rather than “turn right” – but on swapping and directing my runner around the second course it became apparent – by using absolute directions you continuously “reset” mistakes.

People generally stuck to paths, as it made “blind” navigation easier – and was just as well as the off-path vegetation. It took a little while too to “trust” my navigator and run flat out, rather than hesitating and describing every mappable feature I came across.

Overall, apart from an interesting off path section down a stream, I got around without issue, and my team-mate got around OK too. I understand now while he took a while to get up the hill to number 3 – the hill definitely feels bigger when you can see it and are running up in, rather than when you are kilometre away looking at the map.

It was also a good training exercise in map simplification and interpretation. I got around in just under 20 minutes for the 2.4km course. I’m very impressed with Ed’s time of 13 minutes – he is fast but I thought he would be going a bit too fast for his navigator – this proved to not be the case!

On the phone, taking the first instruction at the start.

Results and photos. Looking forward to Clued-O.

It was good to be back at the BPTT, after missing it in the last weeks thanks to the inclement weather and a broken down train. Also, Paul N showed up so I had someone of similar ability I knew who I could pace against. In the end, he did prove very valuable to tag. I got my second best time, not beating my PB of three weeks ago, but finishing comfortably under 20 minutes (19:38 – PB was 19:19 but next best time was 19:41.) A significant headwind for the last km probably did slow me down by a few seconds.

A couple of observations – unlike both of of the 10Ks I’ve run in the last week, I had nothing left at the end, and couldn’t have sprinted if I’d needed to – largely because I kept up the pace for the last 1km after overtaking Paul, anticipating he might have overtaken me.

Also, I really felt that my 5km pace was noticeably faster than my 10km pace – it hurts more, and it’s relentless the whole way around. Unlike the 10km, there really isn’t any “breathing time” where you can ease off and still put in a good time. With 5km, every second really does count.

Google Earth view down the finishing straight – 1.1km, marked by a white line.

I was orienteering around Reigate Priory only a week ago, and liked the look of the area, so I was happy to be back for my second 10K in four days. This one was a run around country roads, it was billed as being quite undulating, so I wasn’t expecting to beat my 42:09 PB from Sunday. However, I got around in 41:59. Not a negative split this time, but this was because all the (up)hills were in the second half – including a 70m climb over the hills just south of the priory itself – the edge of the North Downs. The hills weren’t nearly as bad I was expecting – I just slowed down my pace and took it easy. I did feel my calves at the end of the race though.

I really enjoyed this race – clear weather but not too hot, entry on the day, very encouraging and friendly marshalls right around the course, a wide start, and a downhill finish! The only unpleasant surprise was a 20m climb in the last kilometre that I wasn’t expecting. But overall I felt good, and I’m looking forward to the Great Capital Run 10K in Hyde Park this coming Sunday.

Race 10 was to have been the Bushy Park Time Trial on Saturday, but my train out to Teddington broke down on the platform. So, Plan B, a training jog around Victoria Park, was executed. Later on my housemate mentioned she was running a 3K fun run around the park the following day, and on checking the website I noticed there was a 10K too. Perfect – only 15 minutes walk from my house.

This was my first formal 10K race – I had done a 10K trail challenge in 49 minutes a few weeks ago, but this was a flat, fast race without breaks. My 5K pace is currently around 4 minutes, so I aimed to try to keep to that but give myself an extra 10-15 seconds for each kilometre, aiming for a time of 42 minutes – not coincidentally the time Alex B ran at the London 10K last week. The course was three laps of part of the park. I don”t normally like lap races as it’s more boring, but it was good for this race as you could plan your strategy ahead.

In the end I did the race in 42:09 – I sprinted the final 500m but wasn’t able to make the 42 minute mark. It might be a little while before I will be able to contend this time again, as the course was extraordinarily flat and fast. Reigate Priory on Wednesday is a hilly course, although Regent’s Park next Sunday should be quite good.

The ninth race in my pre-tour prep, down near Reigate. I arrived in the town in a torrential downpour, it was hailing and the hail was coming down so forcefully it was bouncing right back up in the air! However it stopped just before I set off on my course, which was a map memory course, 18 controls in 5km, leading through the grounds of Reigate Priory School and up around the woodland and hill to the south. I didn’t have any problems remembering the legs, although there were a few tricky (but short) legs. With so many controls on the course, it was important not to spend too much time looking at each map fragment.

A couple of observations – yet again, my mistakes were made when being distracted by the presence of others. Also I pace counted a couple of legs for the first time in (I think) any race I’ve ever done, and was pleased to find my pacing was spot on – I worked out one control was as far away again as the distance between two junctions, counted 47 double-paces between the junctions, and then it was there on the right after a further 47 paces.

I was pleased to win the race, in a good time. The weather probably put off more people from turning up though, so there were only around 10 runners altogether.