SSAFA Road Race results
Saturday 23 May 2009
The first of this year’s series of the annual SSAFA 5K road races was held last Wednesday, 20th May around Cardiff’s beautiful Bute Park and Blackweir fields. The race is organized in aid of the Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force Association and all income from entry fees goes towards the association’s charities.
The field of 86 runners was small in number but high in quality and some thought that the course record of 14m21 would be threatened.
On a sunny evening, the race started outside the Nursery buildings in Bute Park alongside the Taff river. The course followed the footpath up to the weir/footbridge over the river Taff before turning onto the cycle track heading back to the Music and Drama College on North Road. The course then returned into Bute Park to complete a second lap before finishing alongside the Blackweir Pub on North Road.
At the 2km mark (reached in 6mins) the leading group of 10 runners included 7 Cardiff athletes; Chris Moss, Tom Marshall, Richie Gardiner (in his first race since his 2hrs 19mins London Marathon), Nat Lane, Matthew Collins, Edward Takata and Peter Grist. The other runners in the leading group were Steve Davies (Belgrave), Daniel Gurmin (Swansea) and Chris Discombe (Les Croupiers). At this point it was safe to say that the course record would not be broken, as nobody had made a break.
At the 4k race point there were still 7/8 runners in the leading group, thus the winner was likely to be the fastest finisher.
And so it turned out. As the runners turned onto the cycle track on the way to the finish, the field was split by the fast finishers. Chris Moss (Cardiff) came home in 14m53, a mere 2secs ahead of Steve Davies (Belgrave) in 14m55, with Daniel Gurmin (Swansea) 3rd in 14m59.
Personal best performances were achieved by runners who held on to the leading group on the first lap. Edward Takata (Cardiff) broke 16mins for first time on the course, coming home in 15m40.
All standards of runners take part in this series of races. The Blackweir Pub becomes the race H.Q. where race entries (£6 club runners) (£8 unattached runners) are taken and prize awards are made after race.
The next race in the series will be held on Wednesday 24th June starting at 7.30pm with the third and final race on Wednesday 22nd July.
The race is organised by Cardiff AAC stalwart Graham Finlayson, with officials from Military College, Cardiff AAC and Les Croupiers Running Club. It is the 11th year it has been held.
The full results can be seen by clicking on RESULTS.