Cox "coasts" to a new PB and to a 2nd place!

Marc Cox has been in superb form this year: you only need to look at the line graph on his Run Britain Ranking's page for a graphic illustration of his improvement curve! That form has continued these past two weeks with a storming run at the Exeter 10k bringing him a new PB and another strong run at the local Jurassic Coast multi-terrain 10k, in which he ran his way to a hard earned 2nd place.

On 15th August, Marc was on the startline at Haven Banks for the annual Exeter 10k. A relocated start and finish area this year made the race even faster and was better for spectators as they were both in the same place, attracting people to stay and enjoy the atmosphere.

Marc ran a well-paced race and finished strongly to record a time of 35:42 for 11th place overall out of 300+ runners. This time saw him shave just over a minute off his previous best for the distance, which was also recorded this year at the Ivy Bridge event in May. 

Just over a week later, Marc was on local turf, toeing the start line of the Jurassic Coast 10k, which starts and finishes in his home town of Budleigh Salterton. This race takes runners on a very scenic circular route, out along the river bank, turning right over White Bridge, along the cliffs to Crab Ledge, forging inland and dropping down on footpaths to Clamour Bridge and then returning back along the river bank to the finish at Lime Kiln Carpark. The route is undulating, but not as hilly as you might expect, with all of the climbing being over by half way, making for a fast closing half. 

Marc had a good battle with an unattached runner, who eventually just got the better of him on the final 1 mile run in to the finish. Marc clung on for a very creditable 2nd spot though and his time of 36:58 represented well over a minute's improvement on his time from last year. 

Marc is now excellently placed to tackle the cross country season this year and we're sure that further improvements to his times on road races are also up for grabs if he targets the right races this autumn. Well done Marc!