Virtual Medley Road League – Round 5 – 5k (3rd/4th/5th Apr)

Round five of the Virtual Medley Road League took place over the Easter week-end. It was originally scheduled for Easter Monday, but because the forecast on Monday was for very windy cold weather, many ran their 5k on Saturday or Sunday instead when conditions were much more favourable for running. At least that was the excuse given and not that they were fearful of the effects of overindulgence in Easter eggs if they left it to Monday! To allow time for the usual age-grading adjustments to be made and just in case anyone decided to brave the elements on Monday, the results weren’t finalised until the Tuesday morning.

Fewer took part this time, 55 submitting a result, but that didn’t detract from the quality of the performances. Eddie Newman, Maurice Looby and Alan Crowley led the men home and Mary Stuart, Brigid McCabe and Sinead Whitelaw led the women. There were a number of massive improvements and some very fast times too, and we also saw nearly double figures in the amount of personal bests that were recorded. There were standout performances by James Keegan who impressed with a fine unadjusted 16:08, as did Sinead Whitelaw who ran a very swift 18:07, also unadjusted.

The plan for the final round was a 6k group run in Belvedere at the end of April but with Belvedere closed until then and adults still unable to meet up for group training or runs, it has been decided to change round six to a 3k solo run on the last week-end in April. This way everyone can compare their times to round one eleven weeks ago and see how much they have progressed since the league started. If a change to Covid restrictions allows adult group training before round six happens, a seventh round will be added, which will be a 6k race over two laps of Belvedere on the first Sunday morning after the changes come into force.