The last ever Pomphrey 5K
On a warm summer evening I cycled out of Bristol on the railway path. The verges were overgrown, the air dense with insects. Coming through Staple Hill the path enters a tunnel, water falling from the arching roof and onto the tarmac.
I count the Pomphrey Sports 5K as unfinished business. Last time I ran it — the only time I’d run it, in fact, the only timed 5K I’d ever run — on a dark, blustery winter’s evening it took me 18 minutes and 44 seconds to get round. Today, I had to do better. I wanted to test my speed ahead of the Swansea half. An email from race director, Chris Elson, warned me I wouldn’t get another chance:
This race incorporates the Avon AA mob match with the winning team (20 to count) being awarded the Andrew Rawnsley Memorial Trophy. We hope there will be lots of Avon Clubs with teams! This race will be the last, after some 15 years, to be held on the course but plans are at an advanced stage to move the race to a flat fast course using the mile circuit at Aztec West.
After a short warm up around Pomphrey Hill playing fields, I joined the other runners at the start of the course. Fewer than I expected — maybe a couple of hundred of us, and only seven from SRC. There was Sam Stone, a work colleague, running for Emersons Green. We gathered on the cycle track under the B4465 bridge over the ringroad. After a brief announcement, we were off.
For me, 5K is a tough distance. It feels like I’m running flat out the whole way. The track veers through a subway under the ringroad. At 1K, my watch showed 3:30. Now we skirted the new roundabout exit, trainers hitting plywood boards laid over fresh tarmac. Crossing the ringroad now on a pedestrian bridge. I hit 2K around 7 minutes in and realised my target, 18 minutes, was very much on. Matt was just ahead. Around us, red and white vests, Bristol and West. The track takes a left at the next roundabout and then at exactly 2.5K out doubles back.
My legs felt tired in the final kilometre. Somehow sensing my weakness Matt opened a gap which 5 Bristol and West runners smartly filled. I checked my watch. A PB for sure. 18 minutes, definitely, but having got into this position how hard would I push for the finish? Did I really want to set a best time which would be out of reach in future? My legs felt ragged.
I crossed the line under the bridge over the ringroad and stopped my watch. 17:48, it said.
§
At the presentation, Roger, one of the race directors, took the opportunity to talk about the history of the race which originated some 20 years ago to finance Bristol and West AC sending competitors all round the country, paying for petrol and entry fees. Back then there was no roundabout, no ring road, no cycle track. The sports pavilion we sat in hadn’t been built and so the Bridge Inn hosted the event, which was run on dirt tracks around the former quarry.
As the first MV50 to finish, in 22nd place with an official time of 17:50, I picked up a £5 Easy Running voucher. Without me being aware of it the next two runners, just 4 and 13 seconds behind me, were also MV50’s. Some race!
1 15.23 John Ashcroft Bristol University SM 2 15.34 Matt Whitfield Bristol & West AC SM 3 16.21 James Denne Exeter Harriers SM 4 16.33 Jarlath McKenna Bristol & West AC SM 5 16.35 Matthew Krelle Bristol & West AC SM 6 16.48 Mark Edwards Bristol & West AC SM 7 17.06 Iain Stuart Bristol & West AC SM 8 17.08 Olly Sheppard Team Bath AC SM 9 17.09 Sam Hedley Team Bath AC SM 10 17.14 Jenny Jagger Bristol & West AC SW 11 17.24 Anthony Hall Bristol & West AC SM 12 17.26 Torran Elson Bristol & West AC SM 13 17.34 Jacob Hayes Bitton Road Runners M40 14 17.35 Matt Burns Southville SM 15 17.37 Chris Palmer Westbury Harriers SM 16 17.38 Peter Gandon Bristol & West AC SM 17 17.40 Alexander Whittaker Bristol & West AC SM 18 17.41 Helen Sharpe Bristol & West AC SW 19 17.42 Phil Lucker Bristol & West AC SM 20 17.44 Jason Barry Stroud & District M40 21 17.46 Ben Farrell Bristol & West AC SM 22 17.50 Thomas Guest Southville M50 23 17.54 Gary Hughes Team Bath AC M50 24 18.03 Phil Westlake Bitton Road Runners M50 25 18.04 Julian Bailey-Gard Westbury Harriers SM 26 18.06 C McQuade Unattached SM 27 18.08 Andrew Malloy Bristol & West AC M40 ...
Cycling back along the track which was once a railway I thought about Bristol traffic, transport and history.