Becoming something of an annual tradition for Chris O’Brien, the Romsey 5 always features on his agenda. In fact, this was the fourth time he’s done it in the last five years. And the year he didn’t do it was when it wasn’t on because of covid.

It’s a three lap course staged in the grounds of the Broadlands Estate which was once home of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma. It’s predominantly tarmac and is thought to be one of the flattest five mile races in the country and perfect PB material in theory.

Strangely though, Chris has never really found it to be as quick as some of the other five mile races he’s done. His best time in it thus far was 32:12, which he did in 2023. His best ever five mile time was 30:53 which he did at the Littledown 5 back in 2015.

Due to the fall out from covid and the long term effects it had on his breathing, Chris has struggled with his short distance speed over recent years. The Romsey 5 is a good place to see if he’s made any gains though verses recent years.

Going through the first mile in 6:19, he then followed that up with a 6:37 and then a 6:34. He was soon through 5k and on to the remaining just under two miles of the route. Managing to keep his pace pretty consistent from there on, he clocked a 6:32 and 6:28 for his last couple of miles.

Reaching the finish line in a time of 32:19, Chris had finished 52nd out of 906 people and 7th in the 50 to 59 age category. It was an improvement on his time from last year by 14 seconds but was 7 seconds slower than his fastest Romsey 5 time.

His chest had been a bit tight on the day, which it often is, and he didn’t feel as if he had any power. Having not done any speed work for the past few weeks though, that was to be expected really.

Southampton man Richard Waldon got the win in a time of 26:34 which put him four seconds ahead of Michael Stone of Andover who took the runner up spot. Matthew Bennett of Romsey Road Runners was close as well but had to settle for 3rd with his time of 26:40.

Former Bournemouth AC man Trev Elkins continued his good run of form to take 12th place in 28:32. Like Chris, Trev does the Romsey 5 every year and he’d beaten his previous best time from last year by 48 seconds. He was going at between 5:35 to 5:40 for this first three miles and it was only in the last two that he slipped off the pace slightly.

Erin Willmers of Winchester Running Club was first female, completing the course in exactly 30 minutes. The put her in 23rd place overall. Nina Martin of Basingstoke & Mid Hants was 2nd female in 31:10 which put her in 36th place overall.

Chris is now training for the Newport Marathon on 13th April and he’s already started to build some base endurance for that with a couple of runs of 20 miles or more. The Newport Marathon is very flat in profile so that should help Chris avoid any potential breathing problems he might incur from any steep or sharp inclines.