Grantham Running Club duo take on the Southwold 10K

As the tail of Storm Arwen whipped its last across the country, two Grantham Running Club members joined the field of 715 runners for the Adnams Southwold 10K.

The rain stopped and the clouds parted moments before the start, but the bitter wind continued unabated and the heavy overnight rainfall left two large sections of the two lap course littered with large, deep puddles of icy water.

The race started at the Southwold Harbour Inn, at the most distant point from the town itself.

The first kilometre was run along the very rough and wet harbour road, through the working harbour, past the huts and boats, before turning on to the Shore Road, heading toward Southwold. The route then turned left and up the hill to York Road before descending past the golf club back to the harbour, forming an almost 4km loop around the town marshes.

The race, as always, was very well supported by spectators with plenty of enthusiastic and encouraging volunteer marshals, especially in the final 200m rise up to the finish outside the Red Lion.

Stuart Baty (MV50) was the first of the GRC runners in, with a solid time of 49min 18sec. Simon Hartley (MV50) improved his season’s best with 1:01:56, a time some seven minutes better than his 2019 attempt.