Road RunningA FAST-improving Ian Keeble coped best with the punishing heat to win the annual Newmarket 10km road race, staged from the Newmarket Leisure Centre on Sunday.

Road Running

A FAST-improving Ian Keeble coped best with the punishing heat to win the annual Newmarket 10km road race, staged from the Newmarket Leisure Centre on Sunday.

The hot sunshine kept the number of entries down, with just 89 finishers, although there were no casualties despite the difficult conditions.

Keeble, an unattached athlete, has posted a number of top-10 positions in the Friday Five Series this summer, but he tasted a rare victory with a well-timed run on an undulating course. The 32 year-old stopped the clock at 35mins 15secs.

Keeble began the summer by finishing ninth at Kirton. He has since improved, chalking up a fifth place at the Bury Five and then a fine third at the Ipswich Jaffa event, staged over the same distance.

Keeble was pursued by some very experienced athletes. Kevin Vaughan led the Saint Edmund Pacers charge in second spot, finishing half-a-minute behind the winner, while former Bury 20-mile champion Richard Jordan was third in 36.51.

Over-40 veteran Giacomi Capetti, of Cambridge & Coleridge, clocked 37.27 in fourth spot, but the veteran dominance was then broken by another excellent run from William Barnes-Smith.

Barnes-Smith, of the Pacers, has improved in leaps and bounds over the last few months, and he was first junior and fifth overall in 37.46 at Newmarket. Pacers chairman Peter Golding was six seconds further back, and the leading over-50 veteran.

There was a local success story in the ladies' race. Maxine Burgess, of the host club Newmarket Joggers, does not compete that often, but she celebrated a narrow win in 46.28. She was 31st overall.

Gail Pryke, from Ipswich Triathlon Club, was just 30 seconds adrift in second position, while fellow veteran Sarah Golding, of the Pacers, enjoyed a good run with 49.56 in third slot.