ERRA National 5K Championships
Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield
Saturday 6th April 2019
Kingston upon Hull AC’s Jodie Martin & Ella Shaw Hall broke new ground by travelling to the West Midlands to compete in the English Road Running Association National Championships held in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield. The races for young athletes were all held over a hilly 5 kilometre winding its way through the scenic park which for years has been the home of the association’s Mens 12 Stage & Ladies 6 Stage National Relay Championships which this year were being staged alongside the young athletes’ events adding to the atmosphere of the occasion.
Jodie has just completed a very successful winter of cross country running, the highlights of which have been an 8th place finish in the North of England Championships in January and 24th from a field of over 350 in the English Schools Championships in mid-March. The timing of the 5k championships just before the start of the track season gave Jodie the opportunity to take on only her second major road race and using her track speed to good effect she took the lead from the gun and after the first kilometre had established a 25 metre gap as the field headed out through the thickly-wooded parkland towards the highest point on the course. By the 3 kilometre mark Jodie had built up a lead of over 100 metres and was still running comfortably within herself despite the testing terrain. The lead continued to grow and as she made the final turn towards the finishing gantry her closest pursuer was still not in sight. Crossing the line in a time of 19 minutes 4 seconds Jodie’s margin of victory was a huge 46 seconds over Elizabeth Clarkson (Newcastle under Lyme AC) who gained the consolation of adding a team gold medal to her individual silver.
Younger training partner Ella Shaw Hall faced the starter in the under 15 women’s race. Fresh from her best ever run at national level when she narrowly missed out on a top 200 spot in the Inter Counties Cross Country Championships at Loughborough last month Ella was determined to make up for having missed a place in the Humberside team at the recent English Schools Championships by only one place. She settled into a position in the middle of the field early in the race and battled her way to a finishing position of 15th clocking 20 minutes 59 seconds, gaining much valuable experience at the same time.
Both girls will now switch their attention to the track with the first major event being the Humberside & Lincolnshire Joint Championships in mid-May. Club league matches will also feature on their early season programme as the build-up towards regional and national championships later in the summer intensifies.
