Andrew Davies sets the lowest score of the week at PUMA Stockport 10
This weekend’s PUMA Stockport 10 produced great times for runners throughout the field and also produced the week’s top three road performances, for men, in the UK.
Runners at the PUMA Stockport 10 enjoyed a well organised event, laced with theatre and humour. This event is not just capable of providing fun and entertainment though - it also provides a competitive opportunity for those looking to perform a the sharp end. The Stockport 10 has been granted the status of Northern 10 Mile Championships for the next three years and Sunday's race, that saw the elites battling it out for that title, provided the top three road performances as well as the seventh and eighth for men and the fifth best performance for women.
Andrew Davies (handicap -4.7), who runs for Stockport but hails from mid-Wales, won the race with a net handicap score of -4.8 for his time of 50:25 on this hilly course, in wet and windy conditions (that gave the course an SSS of 1.2 to reflect the level of difficulty). After the race he said:
"The race was good, much tougher than I had predicted. I liked the steep downhills, country roads and farms, like being back at home. The hills were a bit of a killer though. On the first big hill at five miles I thought I'd test the others out, only to find they were still with me! I had heard about the hills so I wasn't too surprised when I met them! It is a really interesting course with all the twist and turns, I didn't know what was coming up next. I would like to thank the organisers and marshalls for putting on the race-a good day out!"
The other two runners that pushed Andrew on to this performance were Jack Morris (handicap -3.9) who had a particularly good run (his net score of -4.7 for his time of 50:32 reduced his handicap by 0.2) and Ben Fish (handicap -4.3) whose net score was -4.4 for his time of 50:54. Further back Alan Buckley (handicap -3.9) and Patrick Gardiner (handicap -2.7) were also putting in superb performances to knock 0.2 and 0.4 off their scores respectively. The women's winner was Ali Lavender (handicap 0.8) who knocked 0.1 off her score and gave the fifth best female performance of the week. Ali was given a net score of 0.4 for her time of 58:12.
The best female performance of the week came from Tessa McCormick (handicap 1.1) whose 17:34 (second fastest overall) run at the Gunpowder parkrun took 0.3 off her handicap score as a result of her net score of 0.0. The Gunpowder parkrun was given an SSS of 3.0, which suggests that conditions were far from ideal.
For more details on their performances and the top ten male and female performances from the last seven days click here.