North Wales 10 Mile Championships

In probably the hottest April weekend in years, three Ellesmere Port Runners took on the challenge of the Wrexham 10 Mile road race which also encompasses the North Wales Championships. With temperatures climbing to 23C at the 2pm start time and the sun burning down; it was time to see if EPRC’s premiere road runner Steve Crowe could improve on his 2nd place from last year.

With a cagey start and a large leading group for the first ½ mile including EPRC’s Mark Dodd and Simon Jeffs, there wasn’t going to be a course record in the hot conditions. At 2 miles Steve found himself pushing the pace and leading the group. Going through 3 miles in 15.57 there was now just Steve and Richard Roberts from Eryri who had pulled away from the rest of the field.

At 5 miles, Richard had made a gap of 10 metres from Steve who was having a hard time of it, however, dug in and by 6 mile had pulled the leader back in. By 9 mile, Richard had once again pulled away, with Steve around 10 seconds behind in a clear 2nd, a scenario that stayed the same for the remainder of the race. A winning time of just under 56 minutes from Richard, with Steve, quickly following 14 seconds behind, posting his 2nd quickest time over the distance with a 55:59.

Further down the field, Mark Dodd, at the 7 mile point had given up on his target time and was simply racing for places. Having gone through 4 mile in 11th position, Mark pulled his way upto 8th by the 7 mile point but was starting to falter in the heat of the day. In a close sprint for the line, Mark held onto 8th position in 59:29, a new personal best, followed by Ian James (Wrexham) and Paul Wathan (Eyri).

Simon Jeffs was having his own battle, primarily with the heat. Having covered the first 3 miles comfortably shadowing Mark,  Simon started to feel the temperatures and suffered for the remainder of the race, but battled on to finish in under 61 minutes for a new PB.

Friday the 4th May, sees the final race in this years Borders League Championships, staged at Wrexham, with Ellesmere Port currently lying 4th in the 1st division, who, with one last sterling effort could snatch 2nd place off Wirral. A call goes out to ALL EPRC Runners to be there!!!