Starting and finishing in the vibrant and bustling city centre, the Great Bristol Run offers a fast, flat route, showcasing some of the best aspects of the area. That was enough to lure Ella Preston over to compete in the 10k race, whilst her sister Abby was taking part in the Half Marathon.
Ella had done a couple of 10ks recently, with the last one being the Chase the Sun 10k in her original home city of Coventry. She completed that one in 50:51. Then before that she did the one at the Castle Howard Multisport Festival. That was on quite a hilly course and she got round that one in 55:39.
Her best 10k time to date was still the 49:24 she posted at Round the Lakes in the special summer edition of the Poole Park showdown.
The 10k route heads past the waterfront before crossing over to Spike Island and through Wapping Warf before looping round Queen Square. That marks the half way point and it’s then over to Redcliffe before heading round the historical Castle Park on the final section before a grandstand finish on Anchor Road.
Ella didn’t really set out for a PB but there was a 50 minute pacer who was playing music as he ran so she opted to try and stay in front of him. If she could do that, she knew she’d be there or thereabouts.
Ella got into a good pace early on and looked to keep it up as the miles ticked by
Managing to pace her run pretty well, she kicked it off with a 7:47 for her first mile split before keeping just under 8 minutes per mile for the next four miles. Then she upped it slightly to 7:53 on the sixth mile which left just a quarter of a mile left.
That led to a finishing time of 49:14, which put her in 941st position in the overall standings. Out of the women in the race, she was 198th and in her age and gender group, she came 68th. She went through the 5k point in 24:37 which shows that it was a pretty even paced run.
What’s more, it was 10 seconds quicker than the time she’d registered at Round the Lakes so she had indeed set herself a new benchmark for the distance.
It was a good run from Ella and she’d beaten her PB by 10 seconds
Tom Merson of Exmouth Harriers was the winner of the race, clocking a super quick time of 30:51. He was followed by Matthew Rees of Swansea Harriers who took 2nd in 31:33, with Simon Fox of Exeter Harriers sealing 3rd in 31:39.
The top female in the race was Helen Gaunt of Tonbridge AC. She got round in a very impressive time of 35:41, which put her in 63rd place overall. Lindsay Skinner claimed 2nd in 36:02 which put her in 72nd place overall, with Lucy Marland of Les Croupiers taking 3rd in 36:05, putting her in 74th place overall.
Ella’s sister Abby completed the Half Marathon in 2:05:37 which put her in 3,333rd place and out of the women in the race she came 774th. Jacob Brockmann of Thames Hare & Hounds won that in 1:10:40, with Charlotte Taylor coming in as first female finisher and 19th overall in 1:15:49. She was almost six minutes ahead of her nearest rival.
For her next race, Ella was back on the south coast for the Run Bournemouth 10k and after being back in Coventry over the summer, she was very much looking forward to seeing the beach again.