2019 Pednor 5

Information (e.g., entry forms, results and photos) for running races (e.g., 5K, 10K, 10M, half marathon), both road races and multi-terrain, that are in Oxfordshire, Berks and Bucks, parts of Glos, Hants, Northants and Wilts, ... Generated: Mon 25 May at 10:18:13 BST

2019 Pednor 5

Today, in my series entitled "where I was taking photos this time last year", I'm looking at the Pednor 5 which takes place from Chesham which is in Buckinghamshire - it's 9M North of junction 2 of the M40 (Beaconsfield) and about 35M from Oxford.

The Pednor 5 is a 5M road race that is organised by Chiltern Harriers AC. Their website says the Pednor 5 uses "undulating lanes through scenic Chiltern countryside around Pednor, near Chesham". The Run is proceeded by a Walk using the same 5M course and, as well as there being separate prizes for the two events, there are also prizes for the Pednor Challenge, the lowest combined time for the Walk and the Run. Last year, 31 did the Walk and 289 did the Run. Amongst these there were 7 people who did the Challenge.

Normally the events take place on the Early May Bank Holiday. So last year these events took place on Mon May 6th. Because this year that Bank Holiday got moved to a Friday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, this year's events were to have taken place on the Spring Bank Holiday which is today (Mon May 25th). Unfortunately, because of corona virus they have had to be postponed.

The Walk starts at 1700 and the Run starts at 1900. So, in most years on the Early May Bank Holiday, I take photos at the Chalgrove Festival 10K (which starts at 12 noon) followed by the Pednor 5 at 1900. What an excellent way to spend a Bank Holiday!

By the way, you can click on any of the photos on this web page to see the photo in hi-res.

The route of the race

Before showing you photos of some runners who did well in last year's race, I'll first show a map of the race route and then some photos taken along the route.
.
I couldn't find a course map for the Pednor 5. But above there's one for the Pednor 10 that's held in December. It was produced by the course measurer, Fabian Mills, for the Pednor 10 in 2009. The Pednor 5 is essentially the first lap of that race.

The race starts at the bottom right of the map (on the outskirts of Chesham) and uses Pednor Road and Pednor Bottom to go NW for about 2.5M. During this time, it ascends roughly from 105m to 175m. The race returns losing this height as it goes SE along Hollow Way and Drydell Lane, roads that are parallel to the outward route. These roads are narrow country lanes that usually have little traffic.

Photos of the race route

Now for some photos taken along the route. There's one photo taken by me and one taken by Martyn Loach. The other photos have been grabbed from geograph and from Google Maps. The photos I'm using from geograph were taken by Andrew Smith, Bikeboy, David Howard, Rob Farrow and Robin Webster. They are released with this Creative Commons Licence. Bear in mind that the photos from geograph and Google were taken several years ago. You can click on any of these photos to see where it comes from. Thanks to the photographers for these photos.

The race starts near to the Chesham 1879 Lawn Tennis and Squash Club. The above photo of the start of the 2019 race was taken by Martyn Loach.

The race first goes along Pednor Road which is reasonably flat.

The race reaches this point after about 0.4M. There are often a lot of supporters that have walked from the start to this point - this is because, after the runners have passed here, there's a footpath across fields that can be used to get to see the runners on their return when they get to the 4.2M point of the race.

I'm one of them as the 0.4M point is the spot where I take my first set of photos. Here are the front runners of the 2019 race.

This is the view further along Pednor Road.

At roughly 1.6M the race route goes straight on as Pednor Road becomes Pednor Bottom. So far the race has very gently climbed from about 105m to about 125m.

At this point, Pednor Bottom turns 90 degrees to the left ...

... and a hill begins. It ascends from about 135m to about 175m in about 0.8K.

At the top, the race route reaches "a short avenue of trees between Great Pednor and Little Pednor".

Then at this junction the race route switches to going Eastwards - this is the start of Hollow Way.

With a spot height of 176m nearby this is the highest point of the course.

The race route passes "neatly trimmed bushes that lead up to the round-topped gateway entrance to ..."

... Litle Pednor House. The race route carries straight on through the other round-topped gateway entrance.

The race route comes around the corner shown in this photo and along this stretch of Hollow Way.

And around the corner shown in this photo and along this stretch of Hollow Way.

It then descends this hill at about 4M.

At the bottom of the hill, there's a track off to the right of the race route - it's called Herbert's Hole and it features in the Herbert's Hole 10K that's also organised by Chiltern Harriers AC. From here the race route has a few small hills.

At about 4.2M, there's the spot that the supporters who were at 0.4M might go to to cheer the runners on for a second time.

Here, with just a few yards to go, the lane used by the race route narrows and descends to the finish.

Photos of the Male runners who did well at the 2019 Pednor 5

Here are some photos of the male runners who finished in the top 3 and/or were first in their age category. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.

Chris Booth (198, Cheltenham_and_County_Harriers) was 1st and the 1st SM finishing in a time of 26:56.

Alexander Miller (270, Belgrave_Harriers) was 2nd and the 2nd SM finishing in a time of 27:20.

Stephen Buckle (277, St_Albans_Striders) was 3rd and the 3rd SM finishing in a time of 27:23.

Stephen Norris (364, Watford_Joggers) was 5th and the 1st MV40 finishing in a time of 27:39.

Nathan Jones (154, Vale_of_Aylesbury_AC) was 6th and the 1st MJun finishing in a time of 27:51.

Mark Kencroft (70, Ealing_Southall_and_Middlesex) was the 1st MV50 finishing in a time of 29:53.

Tim Jones (155, Vale_of_Aylesbury_AC) was the 1st MV60 finishing in a time of 32:00.

Richard Bloom (39, Herts_Phoenix) was the 1st MV70 finishing in a time of 36:22.

Photos of the Female runners who did well at the 2019 Pednor 5

Here are some photos of the female runners who finished in the top 3 and/or were first in their age category. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.

Samantha Amend (123, Belgrave_Harriers) was the 1st female and the 1st FV35 finishing in a time of 29:57.

Catriona Paterson (72, Hillingdon_AC) was the 2nd female and the 1st SL finishing in a time of 30:31.

Ali Young (360, Chiltern_Harriers_AC) was the 3rd female and the 1st FV45 finishing in a time of 31:01.

Lynn Wilson (283, Ealing_Southall_and_Middlesex) was the 1st FV55 finishing in a time of 37:44.

Anne-lucie Norton (49, unattached) was the 1st FV65 finishing in a time of 50:34.

Katie Meldrum (355, unattached) was the 1st FJun finishing in a time of 52:08.

Photos of other club runners

Here are photos of the runner who was first for those other clubs who had more than 2 runners competing. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

Dermot Martin (273, Bearbrook_RC) was the 3rd MV40 finishing in a time of 29:33.

Benjamin Hull (187, Burnham_Joggers) was the 22nd SM finishing in a time of 31:33.

Jamie Marlow (38, Dacorum_and_Tring) was 8th and the 6th SM finishing in a time of 28:03.

Ralph Dadswell (182, Ealing_Eagles_RC) was the 11th MV50 finishing in a time of 33:20.

David Goodman (297, Gade_Valley_Harriers) was the 14th MV40 finishing in a time of 32:31.

Dominic Reed (220, Handy_Cross_Runners) was the 14th SM finishing in a time of 30:09.

Derek Lloyd (280, Marlow_Striders) was the 5th MV40 finishing in a time of 29:56.

Martin Hopcroft (111, Tring_RC) was the 16th MV50 finishing in a time of 34:26.

Daniel Hatton (346, Vegetarian_C_and_AC) was the 36th SM finishing in a time of 34:20.

Dean Childs (101, Wycombe_Phoenix_Harriers) was 9th and the 7th SM finishing in a time of 28:40.

Postscript

If you did the Pednor 5 in 2019 and want a reminder, then here's a link to all the photos that I took. There's a calculator on that web page that makes it easy to find the photos of a runner given their time and you can find the time from the results web page.

Martyn Loach also took some photos of the race. Here's a link to his photos.

If you want to see the reviews I've done on other races, then here's a link to a web page that includes an index of the reviews of races.

I'm planning for my next review to be of the 2019 Mota-vation race at Bletchingdon. I hope to post that on Thu May 28th 2020.

I maintain a web page for runners that provides a list of races near Oxfordshire and the latest results. Visit www.oxonraces.com and follow @oxonraces

This web page is at www.oxonraces.com/blog/2020-05-25-chesham. It was created on May 23rd 2020 and last updated on May 25th 2020.