Saturday, February 24, 2018

Masters' 10,000m Championships


The 10k Championship race for 2018 was held last Thursday evening, 15 February. My last track 10k was back in 2014 — ran 52:57 then for 17th place on a hot, calm night. For this year I thought my 23:44 5k form would make 5 minute ks a realistic target. 25 laps of 400 metres is never easy, especially on the hard Mondo surface at the AIS. Luckily, Roger was entered and I knew he'd be good for 2-minute laps.

The field was disappointingly small, just 12 runners facing the starter. The air felt cool after recent hot days, around 19C, but there was a fresh northerly breeze to face as we ran up the back straight. I followed Roger around the first lap, the large Omega clock at the finish line showing 1:57, right on target. Quick enough, so I stayed in Roger's draft for the next 5 laps. Sensed he was slowing so went ahead. Bron shouted encouragement as we passed the lap-scorers each lap. My 5-minute k goal was gone by half distance, the unforgiving seconds slipping from under round minutes to over.

During the 17th circuit Ann lapped me and I used her as a pacer for the next few laps until the elastic broke. That was helpful in a race in which I was running alone most of the time. Finished in 7th place with a time of 50:33.28 and a gold medal for the M60s (only entrant!). I would have loved a 49:XX time, but perhaps that'll be the result next year. The story will be embellished in future reminiscences to say we faced a Queensland-style cyclone up the back straight which cost every runner at least 2 minutes.

Catching up with Carolyne and the legendary Norma Wallett (38:34 for 5k at 88!) at the first Goulburn parkrun

9 comments:

Janene said...

A shame about the cyclone on the back straight! I’ve only ever run one 10000m on the track. They are tough! I hope your 5000m is cyclone free and goes to plan.

Niffy Nev said...

Ewen, I share your disappointment especially after your two good 10k races last year (Sydney and Wagga). C'est la vie. With regard to the Wagga trail run 2017, did you find it a good event?

Ewen said...

You're a novice 10k runner then Janene ;-) Next year! You could win a gold medal in your age group!

Yes Nev. I highly recommend the event. Good small town vibe and well supported, plus good organisation. I haven't run the marathon, but the half, 10k and 5k are all good races. The half the most interesting course and biggest field.

Running Raggedy said...

You write a wonderful story. I have to say however that your time may have been a little soft. And yes, any wind no matter how little is a runners worst nightmare but come on ... 33 seconds! Congratulations on the gold medal mate. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

Ewen said...

Thanks Mark. I wish we had more track 10,000s. I'm sure they're sleep-inducing for spectators, but still, a unique challenge for competitors.

Lize Brittin said...

Wow! That's a great race. Congratulations!!

Ewen said...

Thanks Lize. 5-minute k pace feels like 4-minute pace of the old days. I wonder why that is?

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the medal. First of one M60 but perhaps the relevant comparison group is the M50’s who started this event 10 years ago.

It is interesting to see from your more detailed diary that Roger kept the pace going well for 2Km, but then you faded a bit. The splits do not reveal evidence of any increase in pace when you latched onto Ann at lap 17. Nonetheless, you were back on sub 5 min pace in the final Km. It would have been good if you could have made a bit more use of Ann’s pacing, but it is surprisingly hard to latch onto a runner who laps you.

Ewen said...

Thanks Canute for your observations. My 44:54 from the M50s would have been good enough for silver on the night. Ann was actually slowing from her fast early pace when she lapped me so would have been over 5 minute k pace at the time (she ran 48:09). In retrospect I probably could have used her pacing more and perhaps run 10 or 15s faster. I knew sub-50 was out of the question so wasn't hugely motivated to give the last few km everything.