The first race of this year’s series takes place on Thu 12th November at 7:45pm (inc Herts Snr Champs). The next two are on Thu 26/11 (inc Herts Vet Champs) and Thu 10/12.
Click here for on-line entries (5 places or less
available in all 3 races as of 11/11)
You don’t get many genuine 5k road races, in fact I can only think of 3 spanning between central London and Peterborough (Serpentine, Ferry Meadows Peterborough and Stevenage) The weekly Bushy Park 5k is too ‘off-road’ to qualify as a road race. The Marston Forest 5k in Beds falls into a similar category, as well as not having an SEAA measurement certificate.
All this goes some way to explaining the popularity of the Stevenage series. I think the old course (up to 2007) was a bit flatter and faster. I would say that the new course (2008>) adds around 10s (depending on pace) compared with the old route.
The new route, like the old, is entirely on traffic-free cycle-ways. If the new route has one advantage, it’s that there are fewer tight turns. The key disadvantage of the new route is that the final 1.5k (30% of race) is uphill.
The graph below compares the elevation profiles of both old and new routes. The
upper (blue) line is the new route. New route = average gain/loss per mile = 12.07 metres. Old route scores 9.62. Click on either map or graph to enlarge.
22 Squirrels are lined up to tackle this popular race. As usual, the race filled up well before race-day and last minute transfers have been at a premium! I've entered the last two years, but have had to pull out at the last minute for personal reasons. This year will mark my first ever attempt at this course. By reputation, it's a fast course and whilst not without a few undulations, it's famous for the last 3 miles being downhill back into the town.
