Portsmouth Victory 5 2011

This morning I was back at one of my favourite races, the Victory 5 Miles in Portsmouth. Its flat and when the wind stays away its very fast as my 23.40 PB from 1998 shows !

Since my last post in August i've been able to put together a series of races including a 3000m and 5000m in the British League, a 5k road race and a 15k race in Switzerland (more on that in a future post and what happens when the chimp attacks!). None of them have been spectacular and i've consistenly struggled for leg speed but the engine has worked well and i've felt strong throughout.

Somehow Portsmouth avoided the rain which seemed to be everywhere else in the south west but not the wind. Indeed the large number of on the day entries caused the start to be delayed by 15 minutes.

Once under way a leading group of 4 quickly went clear and stayed together along the promenade. At 2 miles Belgrave's Paskar Owuor put his foot down and quickly pulled away and I found myself dropped off in 4th place and looking at a lonely 3 miles to the finish.

Still, the performance was another step forward even though I was unable to be competitive with the leaders for as long as I would have liked.

Race photographs (see example above) from Ian Burnett

The womens race was won by local athlete Cassie Thorp who has recently taken up running after playing football and she seems to be making good progress this summer so one to keep an eye out for in future.

Next stop Aldershot and the 6 stage relays on sunday.

Mens Results
1. Paskar Owuor 24:13
2. Chris Powner 24:25
3. Finn McNally 24:56
4. Adrian Marriott 25:03

Womens Results
1. Cassie Thorp 27:48

Full Results