Cathy is British Masters 10k champion!

Exmouth Harrier's female vet super-star, Cathy Newman, was in action in the East of England over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Combining the trip with a bank holiday break, Cathy travelled across the country to Kings Lynn to take part in the BMAF 10k championships, which was this year incorporated into the Grand East Anglia Run 10k event. 

As you might expect of a race held in this neck of the woods, the course was flat and so fast times were very much up for grabs. Cathy has been running really well of late, having put together some consistent training all winter; however, just a week before, she was struck down with a sinus infection that then turned into a nasty cold, and so on race day she was not at her absolute best. Nevertheless, that didn't seem to hold her back too much as she ran an amazing race on the town centre course to finish 136th overall (out of a field of over 1700 runners), 10th lady overall (out of nearly 700 ladies) and a comfortable category winner in the FV50 section in her superb time of 38:28. This was only 7 seconds shy of her season's best, set in Exeter in March on a predominantly downhill course, so this time is really something special. To give you an idea of how special, it puts Cathy as 3rd in the whole country in the women over 50 section for the 10k distance, behind Kate Wright from Stratford, who ran 37:34 at the Bourton 10k, and the extremely talented Fiona Matheson, who recently ran 36:11 at an all-female 10k in Glasgow. Great job Cathy!