I don’t know what it was, but something was in the air that night. It might have been the weather. It could have been something in the water. Maybe there was some astrological phenomenon occurring in the skies above.
Never have so many people performed so exceptionally well, and so many personal bests achieved.
219 people turned out for the Broadwook 5k, organised by Kirkintilloch Olympians. Captain Curran and myself were 2 of those athletes lining up for this scenic little race.
We went for a quick warm up jog to see what the first 2k of the route was like – the first km finished with a sharp little hill, while the second km seemed to fly by – then chatted to some of Gordon’s Fire Brigade pals. My plan was to keep the Captain in view for as long as I could, but certainly not to try and stick with him.
We lined up on the start line and after some pre-race announcements the race was off. The first 2k was a loop out of the Braodwood stadium area and up round a park on the paths, before coming back to run round the edge of the loch, and finish back at the stadium. I could just about see Gordon for the first half of the race, but then he was out of sight.
Gordon was hoping for a sub-19m time, but put in a dazzling performance finishing in 16:54 (19th) and I, hoping for near 20m managed an equally dazzling 18:01 (33rd). In fact most people we spoke to after the race seemed to have run quite a bit faster than they expected. My kilometer splits offered no satisfactory explanation (4:05, 2:06, 4:04, 4:08, 3:37). Alright, the second km might be slightly faster than usual, but I was feeling good and it was slightly downhill. Anyway, Congratulations to both Gordon and I for some stunning new 5k PB’s (that I think we might struggle to get near any time in the future).
Robert Gilroy (Ronhill Cambuslang) won the race in 14:20 and the first female home was Claire Couper (unattached) in 17:17.
Editors note: some people, including the race organisers, have mentioned that due to a marshalling error the course may have only been 4.6k with the 2nd km 400m short. I believe this to be absolute lies and a complete fabrication. It was just a good night for all those running!
