Touch and Go..Go...Go!
Hard work on course reaps rewards with UK leading times at Battersea Park
Friday Night Under The Lights is an initiative by two passionate supporters of distance running: Ben Noad (Highgate Harriers) and Keith Scofield (Hercules Wimbledon).
The latest event put on by the former five-times World XC Championships representative (Noad) and busy coach and team manager (Scofield) tested the pair's commitment to the absolute limit as the course for Friday Night Under The Lights 5 Mile in Battersea Park on 16th December was only just cleared for racing with 20 minutes to spare.
With the mercury showing -5C after the heavy snowfall of the previous weekend, the joint Race Directors purchased grit and spent the previous night and most of the day of the race clearing the course – or at least a narrow racing line – so the race could go ahead. This short video demonstrates the difficult conditions...
This is the start of the race and you see the course now has a clear racing line.
— Friday Night Under The Lights 5k (@FridayNights5k) December 17, 2022
This was cleared from the first barrier at Rosary Gate to our usual 5k start. pic.twitter.com/ILxKiUCdcW
Their efforts were rewarded with the top six going under 24 minutes and the UK rankings being re-written for 2022. Henry McLuckie (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, 23:37 PB), Adam Clarke (Aldershot, Farnham & District, 23:46 PB) and Jonathan Escalante-Phillips (Cambridge & Coleridge AC, 23:50 PB) now hold the three fastest five-mile times in the UK for the year. Norman Shreeve (Cambridge & Coleridge AC, 23:51) equalled the previous UK leading time held by Jamie Crow (Central AC) set at Cupar in March.
The first 22 men were faster than five minutes per mile and there were 90 runners under 30:00. Among the sub-six-minute milers were the top four women. Dani Chattenton (Milton Keynes Distance Project, 27:45) – ninth fastest in the UK in 2022 – led the way from Ellen Weir (Hercules Wimbledon, 28:20), Annie Birch (Kent AC, 28:39) and Sarah Winstone (Southampton AC, 28:54 PB).
The flat, fast course starts near Battersea Park athletics track and comprises three laps of Central Avenue, West Carriage Drive, South Carriage Drive, and East Carriage Drive around the central lake within the park.
The next Friday Night Under The Lights is an elite race with the Podium 5K on 17th February 2023 when Ben Noad and Keith Scofield will be hoping it might have warmed up a bit! Course records are 13:36 and 15:50 and there is a £4,000 prize fund paying down to 10th place (men and women) plus £500 bonus prizes for new course records.
Friday Night Under The Lights 5 Miles results and previous story at runABC South race listing here
Friday Night Under The Lights future event details here
Image and video courtesy Friday Night Under The Lights on Twitter
