13 June 2021 - First Saturday 5k passes the test to get up and running again

​‘A big step towards getting up and running again’ was the verdict from North Herts Road Runners after a successful test of their monthly 5k event on Norton Common in Letchworth Garden City.
 
The Squirrels are looking forward to hosting their regular First Saturday of the Month 5k again – a free-to-enter event open to the whole community that has been suspended since the start of Lockdown last year.
 
They used this week’s test event – with just their own club members participating - to try out new ideas that will make the event Covid-safe, such as runners starting in waves rather in than in a mass start.
 
Race Director Richard Harbon said ‘We’re now completely confident that we can put on a safe and enjoyable monthly 5k starting on Saturday 3rd July – or as soon as the national rules allow after that. We really appreciate the support we’ve had with this from our own members and the wider community –especially North Herts District Council, who have been super-helpful. We can’t wait to see loads of smiling faces at our events again.’
 
Elsewhere ‘a nice lolly at the end’ was the best David Weston could say about his experience at the St Albans half-marathon, where ‘a lack of any training, a lockdown takeaway addiction and a sudden increase in miles this week resulted in an unforgiving race’. Despite growing up in the area, Weston found the course unexpectedly ‘undulating’, and the combination of 750 feet of ascent and ’the sun beating down with no mercy’ made for a ‘torturous, barbaric and relentless’ challenge. After using his last vestiges of energy to help a ‘wobbling’ St Albans Strider to the marshals with 600m to go, our hero was relieved to finish in 1:52, vowing ‘never again’.
 

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