Dawn Atherton, inspired by her selection to represent England in an international Masters match against Wales, produced a magnificent run at the Mid-Cheshire 5k road race.
Running in the women’s 40 category, the Western AC athlete ran a brilliant time of 18:49, taking 40 seconds off her previous best.
Dawn’s ‘gun time’ was 19:30, but with a huge field of runners in this very popular event it took her 41 seconds after the gun went to cross the start line.
Her ‘chip time’ – that is her time from the start line to the finish line – of 18:49 is the one that will be officially recognised.
Dawn Runs For England
Dawn said afterwards: “I was really just hoping for a sub-20. I haven’t done much in the way of 5k training, having done the Half Marathon and starting to train for the Marathon.
“After the first mile you start to climb uphill and I ended up having to go round lots and lots of people to get past. Same all the way to the finish really.
“Approaching the finish I could see the time ticking up (19:23, 19:24, etc) and thought I was close to my pb (19:29), completely forgetting the gun/chip time – until I saved my watch and it told me I’d set a 5k pb.
“Pretty stunned to see sub-19 as that’s a time I genuinely didn’t think I’d ever achieve.”
Dawn has improved spectacularly over recent times, working closely with her coach Ollie Lockley, and will undoubtedly get even better as she works towards specific racing targets in the years ahead. This was a fantastic performance!
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