Ever fancied visiting two different medieval castles on the same day? Or how about within the same hour? Ella Preston did when she took part in the Two Castles Run which consisted of a 10k route from Warwick Castle to Kenilworth Castle.
It was a blisteringly hot day but the runners were greeted by people lining the streets with sprinklers to help cool them down. The race was in its 39th year and it was one of the warmest ever editions.
Since she started training with Bournemouth AC, Ella has been steadily improving and has been gradually chipping time off her 10k personal bests and parkrun times. She managed to get her Bournemouth parkrun time down to 23:14 and recently registered a time of 47:26 in the Great Birmingham 10k.
The first half of the course was relatively flat with a couple of mild inclines but the second half contained a few hills. Ella paced it well though, managing a negative split and registering her quickest split on mile six. A strong finished saw her get over the line in 53 minutes 20 seconds. That put her in 576th place overall. That made her 97th female and 25th in the women’s 20-34 category.
Thoroughly enjoying her run, Ella found it to be her favourite race of the year. She was bowled over by the kindness of the people on the streets, hosing them down and giving out jelly babies.
Ella had been studying a video production degree at Bournemouth University but since she’s now completed the course she’ll be moving back home to Coventry. She has integrated well into the group over her time here and will certainly be missed by the regulars at training.
Coming along to training and joining Bournemouth AC was a move she was very glad she made and it certainly enhanced her experience of life on the south coast. Moving down from the Midlands, she didn’t really know anyone at first so being part of a group and meeting new people was invaluable.
It hasn’t been just on a social level that she benefited from though. She’s also progressed massively as a runner and that’s largely down to the structured training sessions she’s had at BAC. She’d been prepared to put the work in and it’s been reflected in her improving times and that’s what the club is there for. It’s to help athletes of all levels to hone their running skills and increase fitness and speed, whilst hopefully having fun doing it.
Although it’s sad to see her go, it won’t be the last we see of Ella at BAC. She’s bound to make an appearance at parkrun whenever she comes back down this way and might even pop along to a training session every so often as well.