PBs galore for Stratford athletes at Monty 5k

ATHLETICS

SIX of the eight-strong Stratford AC contingent came away with lifetime bests from the recent Monty 5k.

The Leamington-based 5km race, part of the Warwickshire Road Race League, is flat and fast.

It starts with a lap-and-a-half of the Leamington track and then heads towards the town centre though Victoria Park before returning alongside the River Leam for a second lap.

It ends on the track for an Olympic-style finish.

Pete Sugden was the first Stratford athlete to finish, placing 76th in a PB of 20:04.

Although he narrowly missed out on breaking the 20-minute mark, his time was 21 seconds faster than last year.

He was followed by Luke Watkins, who was almost a minute quicker than last year, recording a PB of 21:29 in 106th place.

Annie Cox was next to finish for the club in yet another PB time of 21:55, almost three minutes quicker than when she last competed in the race in 2017.

She finished in 115th place, just five seconds and three places ahead of Yvonne Gajny (118th, 22:00).

Dave Maundrell is in a rich vein of form and his PB time of 24:00 was more than a minute quicker than last year.

Another athlete in fine form at the moment is Bev Brigden, whose PB of 25:23 was also just over a minute quicker than last year.

Ruth Calderbank is returning from a period of injury and as such she should be well pleased with her time of 26:53.

Finally, Pippa Abrams was another athlete running a PB.

Her time of 27:07 was 1:14 quicker than last year.

The race was won by Ian Allen in 16:24 and Natalie Bhangal was the first woman, clocking 18:35.

A total of 224 runners completed the race.