SRI CHINMOY 5KM RACE, EDINBURGH, Friday 3 May 2024.
INCORPORATING THE SCOTTISH 5KM ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS
by Tarit Adrian Stott
The Edinburgh Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, was again asked to organise the Scottish 5km Road championships. We hold our annual event on a beautiful flat out and back course on a wide esplanade by the River Forth. Although there can often be a breeze by the river, our course is renowned for fast times and over the years for its strength in depth.
We organised our first race there, a five miler, in 1981. Somewhere along the way, with the popularity of the 5km distance in the UK, we developed the 5km event.
Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the Marathon Team, ran and walked on the course on a visit to Edinburgh in 1983, when we staged a 5 mile event. My memory recalls him commenting to us afterwards “You have so many fast runners at your races. Very Good!”
This year it once again lived up to its name as “the fast one” with another amazing show of the strength in depth of the Scottish club scene.
A fresh breeze coming off the Firth of Forth, may have affected the times a little this year, but there was no doubting the usual commitment shown by over 500 club runners from throughout Scotland for the traditional Friday night event.
At the sharp end Great Britain Cross Country international, Scott Stirling, improved on his second place from last year to record an excellent 14:17 (gun time). He was comfortably clear of Edinburgh University’s Finlay Ross-Davie and Fife AC’s, Ben Sandilands. In a photo finish Ross-Davie was given the nod by the officials for 2nd place although they both recorded the same time of 14:25.
In the women’s race, there was victory for Steph Pennycook, who went sub 16 to record 15:55 (15:52 chip time). The Fife AC athlete is only the second female to go below the 16:00 barrier on the course and narrowly missed Morag Millar’s course record of 15:53 from 2019. Millar finished second this year in 16:09 with Cambuslang Harrier Stefanie Tucker in third with 16:18.
Throughout the field, as is usual with this event, the strength in depth told with 26 men going under 15 minutes, and 12 women going under 17 minutes.
In total there were 186 runners under 17 minutes and 394 breaking 20 minutes. Just over 500 runners ran the event.
Special mentions to Fiona and Grant Matheson who claimed a family double by winning gold and silver medals in their respective Masters V60 category.
Also to Sandra Branney, former GB Marathon International and multiple age group record holder who had turned 70 three days before the race. She recorded 21:51. If confirmed, this betters the listed Great Britain time for 5km currently held by Yuko Gordon who ran 21:53 in January 2022.
We are just a small group in Edinburgh, and as the race has grown over the years, we have enlisted the help of runners from the local Edinburgh clubs to make the event run smoothly. The Marathon Team, and the races we have promoted for over 40 years now, are very much a part of the local running community, which really appreciates the efforts we have made with our events.
Selflessly giving up our time to help with projects is so much at the heart of Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy and we are lucky that our local running community also embrace a commitment to helping at each others events whenever asked.
This year we needed over 50 volunteers to make the race work, and they are all blown away with the whole atmosphere this event creates.
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