Yesterday evening we headed over to the University playing fields at Eastleigh for the running club’s time trial event. The two and a half lap course was near enough 5km (give or take 50 metres) and the time of 17:51 I clocked was pretty much what I would have expected. With a little better preparation (arriving more than five minutes before the start having not spent the afternoon sat in meetings and no long runs in the New Forest on the proceeding two days) it would be interesting to see how much faster I could go. Christine, I suspect, was just happy to make it round, with Emma staying very well behaved for the period whilst we were both out.
yes, but was it a proper time trial (i.e competitors set off 1 minute apart and no drafting?). Personally I have always wondered why sprinting isn’t done on a time trial basis. I would suggest having a 150 metre course and timing the athlete from the 50 metre mark. Then the person with the fastest time over the final 100 metres is the winner.
p.s. Looking at the official records I see that the fastest time this year for 5km is 12:49. So unless your runs in the forest were longer and more tiring than usual you probably wouldn’t be in the running for a world record.
that said, I would be happy with 22 minutes for 5 km.
Well – 30 seconds apart, but then you’re not going so fast on foot as on a bike. I think knocking another five minutes off my time might be asking a little too much!
I have a feeling they might argue that the head-to-head race is a big part of racing and also, with wind conditions forming such a big part of the sprints, difficult to ensure similar conditions for all competitors.