So, here we are at the
highly-anticipated Waterfront 5km, the second installment of the year 3AD.
Conditions? Well, it was warm-ish, with a stiff northerly breeze that made the
exposed areas feel like a wind tunnel, or as I like to call it, “Nature’s
hairdryer.”
The field looked massive at first glance—until
we counted the finishers: a grand total of 69. Not exactly a stampede, but hey,
it’s better than the 61 people who showed up to race 1. Progress!
At the end of the infamous Clyde
Quay Apartments dog-leg (seriously, does anyone know what a dog-leg is?), there
was a leading group of 4.
We had Marcos Valero Palacios,
Daniel Stansfield, Tom Strawbridge, and Callum Wos, though to be honest, it was
hard to tell because everyone’s legs looked like blur-induced smudges at that
point.
But, as usual, the lead group
splintered like my last relationship, and when they came back around the Clyde
Quay loop towards the finish, it was Tom Strawbridge who somewhere on the course made a break, crossing the line first in a time of 15:45. That’s a solid victory, following his
win in race 1 where he did, um… something really impressive that I probably
should’ve paid more attention to. Actually, it was 15.49, but he has done 15.18 in the past
In second place, and looking
suspiciously like Liam Jones, was Marcos Valero Palacios, who clocked 15:57.
He obviously loves racing over 5km, and for good reason. His personal best
over 5km is 14:44—if he was any faster, we’d need to call in a time
machine.
Third place went to the
ever-dependable Ben Twyman, who rolled through in 16:06. If Ben was a car, he’d
be a reliable station wagon—nothing flashy, but it’ll get you where you need to
go.
Special shoutout to Daniel
Stansfield, who, according to Ryan Woolley, is a new Scottish club
member. Daniel finished in a time of 16:30 and, just to confirm, he is definitely
from Scotland. Och aye, laddie.
In the women’s race, Bib No 109 was first home in 20.26 I'm guessing she was running away from something… probably the competition.
Madison Wos from Trentham United was 2nd in 20:47,
but curiously enough with about 1km to go she was in 3rd place
behind Ruby Leverington who finished in 20.50.
Ruby might’ve been close, to 2nd
but Madison had the gas tank. Still, 3 seconds, which is not bad, right?
Speaking of which, we still haven’t
seen a sub-20-minute finish in the women’s race, but don’t worry—it’s coming.
Maybe next time, with a stiff tailwind, some magic shoes, and perhaps a boost
of confidence from a motivational cat video.
And what happened to Callum Wos?
