The Sunderland 5k Road Race tomorrow night at Silksworth Sports Complex sees another bumper entry for the Sunderland Harriers’ promotion.
This is the 24th annual running of the popular event and, again, the race has attracted a class field with a host of top North East endurance runners down to compete.
With the vast majority of the field, including fun runners, setting personal bests, it is regarded as one of the fastest 5ks in the country.
On top of that, times could be even faster tomorrow, as the crumbling and raised pathway, just after the start, has been resurfaced.
It is a far cry from the early 5ks from 1993 when the finish of the race was on grass, on what is now the tennis centre car park.
This undoubtedly slowed times, but Sunderland Harriers’ kingpin Brian Rushworth, who won the first five events, was still under the 15 minutes benchmark with his best set in the inaugural race where he recorded 14.36.
He went on to record 14.34 in 2000, and that was the record until Michael Openshaw (Birchfield) toured the course in 14.25 in 2002, before Martin Scaife (Mandale) clocked 14.23 in 2004 and that time still stands today as the course record.
Although, the very next year, clubmate Ian Hudspith came mighty close to breaking the new figures with his winning performance of 14.24.
The fastest time in recent years was Leeds City athlete Carl Smith’s 14.37 clocking in 2015.
The field on Thursday has those figures in front of them and, if favourable weather conditions prevail, another superfast time could be on the cards.
Last year, late entry Chris Parr won in 14.55 in windy conditions with the head wind confronting him on the long stretch at the back of Premier Road.
And he was also slowed when he was forced to stop when a woman with two dogs off their leash blocked the narrow path. He said then: “It did knock my rhythm and I had to get going again.”
The leading protagonists on the entry list so far include New Marske’s Dominic Shaw PB 14.40, Thomas Cornthwaite (Salford) PB 14.46 and Carl Avery (Morpeth) PB 14.52.
Also entered are leading club runners Matthew Williams (Notts AC), Finn Brodie (Tyne Bridge), Sam Hancox, Karl Taylor (Morpeth), Dean Newton (New Marske), Alex Brown (Houghton), Dan Jenkin, Robert Eaton, Jonathan Wilkinson, James Askew (Durham), Greg Jayasuriya (Middlesbrough) and Darrell Hastie of Scottish club Gala Harriers.
Sunderland Harriers’ men’s team last year won the bronze team medals behind winners Morpeth and Gateshead, and they would at least want to match that performance this time.
They will be led by the inform Andy Powell and Kevin Jeffress.
The women’s race sees Morpeth’s Emma Holt defending her title won in 17.18.
Last year she said: “Every time I have ran this race I have clocked a personal best, but this time I didn’t. It was just too windy for fast times.”
The women’s record is held by Sunderland Stroller Alyson Dixon with a superb 15.52 from 2013. She is the only female runner to dip below 16 minutes....