Almost 500 runners took part in the annual Bradley Stoke 10k on Sunday June 9, which was part of the Bradley Stoke Community Festival. The race is organised by Sole Sisters Running Club, which is Bristol’s first all women England Athletics affiliated running group and is based locally.
Runners gathered at the Jubilee Centre on a lovely sunny morning, which offered perfect running conditions with a slight breeze and not too hot. Local runner Terry-the-Tornado kept everyone on their toes with a really fun warm-up that had everyone shaking their limbs out to Beyonce. True to his name, Terry then sped around the course with all the other runners.
The route started with a lap of the field behind the Jubilee Centre before running through the beautiful Three Brooks Nature Reserve and some of the local roads, before coming back through Three Brooks and ending with a final lap of the field at the Jubilee Centre, where runners were rewarded with a medal and a red t-shirt for their hard work.
The overall winner was Marcus Dunsford of Bristol & West AC, who completed the course in 32:41, almost five minutes ahead of the second placed man Shaun Hudson, also of Bristol & West AC, who came in at 37:21, just piping third man Nick Tuftnell (Bristol & West AC) to the post by six seconds.
The first placed female was 17-year-old Bradley Stoke resident Freya Bradley (Westbury Harriers) who knocked almost five minutes off her 2023 time to come in at 35:18. Second placed woman was Jessie Sanzo (Bristol & West AC) who crossed the line at 38:03, and the third woman was Kelly Dicks (Great Western Runners) who came in at 40:30. Kelly is a headteacher at Bradley Stoke Community School and the school was well represented by lots of runners in school t-shirts at the 10k.
Bradley Stoke Mayor Natalie Field presented all the winners with their prizes at the end of the event.
All pictures are supplied by Roly’s Free Pics