Farah romps to BUPA London 10k victory with Gould 
the closest Runner

The race utilised the London Olympic marathon course, starting on The Mall and passing many of the iconic capital sites and was,unsurprisingly, won by Farah for the fifth consecutive year in 29:13.

The Kenilworth contingent were led home by Phil Gould, running his first race as a V35, in a time of 33:18.

Gould ran much of the race in a group with GB Olympic athlete Steph Twell before pulling away from her in the closing stages.

Not far behind Gould were Paddy Roddy (7th under-20 runner in 34:11) and Jim Sawle (34:35).

Arguably the performance of the day was from Joan Mason whose 56:30 earned her fourth place in the FV65 category.

Selected other Kenilworth Runners finishers: Steve Page (36.36); Pete Bryan (38.10); Claire Goult (45:21, PB); Sally Hicks (47:20, PB); Steve Payne (47.33, PB); Sheela Kennedy (50:56) Julie Bruce (55:20); Liz Dixon (1:15:23).

Andy Savery led a small but successful Leamington C&A C contingent to the Blisworth 5, the fourth race of the East Midlands Grand Prix.

On a cold and windy evening, the figure of eight course around the villages of Blisworth and Gayton proved tough but not for Savery who took the initiative on the first climb and was never troubled as he pulled away to win by 28 seconds in a time of 26:35.

Brian Miller was well up throughout to finish 45th in 30:33 and second in his age category.

C&AC’s Alex Montgomery and Susue Tawney both claimed seconds in their age groups, finishing in 33:52 and 34:58, respectively.

Kenilworth’s Jack Blakemore posted a new PB of 31:25 to finish 56th while club-mate Richard Whiting was 80th in 32:28.

Colin Bricher, running close to his Northampton home, ran well to finish in 46:38 for third M65.

Spa Striders’ Dawn Clark followed up her first F35 finish at the Rugby 6 the previous week by coming home sixth lady overall in 33:06, with club-mate Kate Evans fifth F45 in 37:49.

Kenilworth Runners’ Tom Marshall ran a measured race to finish 376th on his marathon debut at Edinburgh.

Marshall went through halfway in 1:35:19 and only slowed slightly in the second half to clock 3:15:39.

He was followed by Neil Smith who went through halfway just a handful of seconds slower, but slowed significantly in the final 12k to come home in 3:29:53.

Selected other finishers: 917, Dave Pettifer (3:30:07); 2,341 Martin Belcher (3:54:06).

Richard and Chris Simkiss took part in the half marathon, with Richard finishing ninth in 1:13:55 after going through 10k in a very fast 33:33.

Chris, who was short on training after breaking both wrists earlier in the year, battled determinedly to break the significant 90-minute barrier for the first time, making it with just two seconds to spare. He finished 186th.

Meanwhile, Striders’ Graham McKenzie recorded a time of 1:36:23 for the Buxton Half Marathon.