Wellies not needed as the sun comes out for the Welly 10!

On Sunday 8th July, the UK experienced its one day of summer. With torrential rain sandwiching the day, the participants of the Wellington 10 events were extremely lucky to find a window in the wet weather for the annual road races. However, in true British fashion, we are never satisfied and many grumbled that the day to be too hot for running a tough hilly road race.

There are 2 distances offered on the day - a 10 mile option and a shorter 10k race. Both races start and finish at the Wellington Rugby club and follow what the organisers describe as an "undulating" route, but what the runners would describe as down right hilly, around the country lanes to the south of the Somerset town.

I, Ellie Sutcliffe, was the sole Harrier representative taking part, as indeed I was last year. I won the female race here last year in a time of 1:07:30 and had hoped to better my time this year, feeling that I am fitter and in slightly better shape.... this didn't quite happen. I set out at a reasonable pace for the opening mile, which is the flattest on the course, and then from miles 1 - 5 it is almost solid climb with very little respite. A female from Westbury Harriers came up along side me shortly after the start and after mile 3 she started to pull away. I held onto her for about another mile, tucked in about 5-10 seconds behind, but on the climb my legs just lacked zip and I had to let her go and watch the gap increase.

From mile 5-6 you get a lovely long downhill stretch to get the breath back, but are then hit by 2 more short, sharp hills that really test your legs and interrupt your rhythm. I thought I was pushing on as hard as I could but when I got to the finish I was shocked to see that my time was in fact 18 seconds slower than last year. Yes, it was a hot day, but I generally cope fine in the heat. I think mainly it was having run the 5k parkrun the previous Saturday, then the Run Exe 5k on Tuesday followed by the 2.5m Erme Valley relay leg on Friday that had taken all the buzz out of my legs! So I dropped a place from last year to 2nd, finishing 47 seconds behind the winning female in the end, and in 15th place overall out of 144 finishers.

The race was won by Alec Woods of Bristol and West in 58:15. The course record for the 10 mile, incidentally, is held by 2nd claim Harrier Tom Merson: a nippy 55 minutes!

I would highly recommend this event to Harriers for next year. 2 distances on offer on a lovely (but hilly) quiet country course. Superb race HQ with samba band and live entertainment throughout the morning, and an excellent and good value selection of refreshments. Sign up and give it a go next year!

Start of the Wellington 10 mile. You are started by a samba band!