Why Not Try 5K on the Track for a Change?

With London Marathon done and dusted for another year most seniors turn their attention to the Ayrshire road races in the Summer season. If they want a little sharpener, they tend to use 5K park runs. However, on Sunday 10th May 2015, Ayrshire Harriers will host a Track + Field competition specifically for Ayrshire Athletes. This will be opened at 11am with a 5000m race which in the past have been poorly attended. For this reason, I’m trying to drum up interest for this race to all the Ayrshire clubs.

Now I know that they are many reasons why this may not be popular but I’m going to focus on good reasons why you should give the race a try.

1.   5000m is as accurate as you can get. A 5000m track PB is recognised more so than Parkruns and is equally recognised as SAF registered 5Km road races (Which are now becoming fewer as Parkruns increase in popularity)

2.   Track races are obviously flat so no hilly course to worry about.

3.   If busy, you always have other runners about you. This will spur you on. You also have the cheer from the crowd which also motivates you.

4.   A general negative I hear about the track is that it’s hard. However the track isn’t as hard as road and pavement. The track is also “fast” compared to softer tracks and is preferential to racing.

5.   For all you people who like to monitor your pace out there, by converting your target time into seconds and dividing it by 12.5, you get your lap splits. This gives you regular feedback in which to alter your pace for an even split race. This is more realtime feedback than 1K splits on a road race.

6.   Lastly …. and most importantly …. this is your best chance of getting a PB over this distance. This can be the difference of 30 seconds faster than road.

So why not give it a try? What have you to lose? 1 Sunday run?

Entry is £3, pay on the day before 10:30 for 5000m.

Also, why not give some of the other track and field events a go. What do you have to lose?