Despite it being a Sultry Sunday the temperature was ideal for a decent long run, so a few of Herne Hills marathon runner’s- Jonathan Stead, Raj Singh and Brian Wilder, keen to hit the tarmac, headed out to the Bramley combined 10 / 20 miler. Brian and Raj, informed of the event at late notice, were planning to gate crash the start line (albeit not in Herne Hill Harrier vests as previously requested by Sarah!) However, they managed to get a last minute entry by donation into the 20 mile race and thus lined up with Jonathan Stead, who was amped up for a 10 mile PB.
From the horn Jonathan took off well positioned in the top 5 and after a fast excited few ks settled into marathon pace which he sustained quite comfortably to the finish clocking 54:17 placing second to take home a shield and vouchers. After a brief breather, he then set out to run another 10 miles which he completed in a respectable 59 minutes.
Meanwhile, Brian had sustained a 3:35 to 3:40 / k pace around the 2 lap 20 mile course to come in at 1:57:50 claiming 7th place overall and the V40 shield, following his Surrey league series V40 win the day before.
Raj then rolled in, in a respectable 2:01:49, despite fading a little in the last 8 miles of the 20 mile race to place in the top 15, all in a good day’s effort.
On the whole it was a very well run race with a superb road surface right the way round. As testament to this the overall winner Ben Fish annihilated the field in a cracking time of 1:43ish!!
Brian Wilder