Fourteen City of Portsmouth running enthusiasts, from Past and Present, hopped onto the Minibus to Parliament Hill in London, to watch the prestigious “Night of the 10,000 metre PB’s” event. The event featured top quality distance runners from all over
Britain, some of whom were aiming to achieve the 10,000m qualifying time for this year’s Olympic Game in Rio. Representing City of Portsmouth AC that evening was Alex Teuten, the clubs current number one senior distance runner, in good form after
securing a recent bronze medal in the BUCS 10,000m.

The afternoon began with a seminar and question and answer session, featuring a panel of four former great middle and long distance runners, Nick Rose, Eamonn Martin, Paul Evans and Charlie Spedding, all of whom had represented their country at the top level. The advice, stories and knowledge shared during this session was invaluable for our youngsters present, Josie and Ben Czura, Jacob O’Hara and Jenson Howard. The more “experienced” members of our party, George Moralee, Orien Young, Pat Butcher and Kevin Kiddle were all on the same wavelength, and could be seen nodding and smiling in agreement as the guest speakers recalled tales of their old training methods, sessions and race tactics.. Their views on modern day “Power-of 10, time-obsessed” athletes were also very interesting, criticising the overuse and reliance on too many running gadgets, GPS watches, ipod straps and water bottles etc....certainly food for thought.

Alex was running in the fourth race of the night, with a target pace of sub 30 minutes. For the first 2 kilometres, Alex sat well in the pack, looking relaxed and clearly enjoying the support he was receiving from his noisy fans, located in the lively marquee,
built over the back straight. After five kilometres, Alex moved swiftly through the pack into 4th position, which he maintained for the rest of the race. A very respectable time of 30:08 meant that he was just seconds outside of his personal best.

The last two races featured big names including Andy Vernon and Jo Pavey, who were both comfortably beaten and failed to achieve the required qualifying times on the night.

After a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable day out, the minibus dropped us home, past many of our bedtimes. It was a great experience being in the company of and sharing a bond with the different generations of City of Portsmouth athletes and coaches that day. Hopefully there will be more of these club days to come in the future!

Jacob O’Hara

Thanks                                                              

Footnote.

Jess Andrews of AFD won the Women's race and gained selection for the 2016 Olympics. Jess set her road 5k PB in our 5k series but was beaten by City of Portsmouth's Cassie Thorp on that occasion.

Also in the race at Highgate was Jo Pavey who used our 5k in her build-up to the 2012 Olympics and European Championships. Jo set a race record for our 5k which still stands. Cassie Thorp was second to Jo.