The Perivale 5, Ealing’s longest established road race, was a sell-out for the fourth year running, with 400 signing up in advance, writes Race Director Phil York.
The runners were greeted with bright sunshine on a rather chilly morning. However, the race warmed up pretty quickly as Zac Randall, from the Shaftesbury Barnet club – pictured below – set off like a ‘bat out of hell’ according to the lead bike. Zac led from gun to tape, winning the race in 25:26, the joint-fifth fastest time ever recorded over this flat, accurately measured two lap course. (Longer-term members will remember Zac as a member of ESM during his teenage years; he is of course also grandson to our recently-retired coach Tony Randall !) Jonathan Poole of Serpentine finished a distant second in 26:49 with Chris Hepworth, representing the host club Ealing Southall & Middlesex AC (ESM), just ten seconds behind in third place.
There was a tremendous battle for the first veteran M40 prize between Grant Ramsay of Fairlands Valley Spartans and Simon Shaw of ESM, with Ramsay just prevailing in 27:18 (4th place) over Shaw’s 27:36 (5th place). ESM’s Stephen Plummer was first veteran M50 in 31:09 with prolific racer Steve Paull of Metros taking the M60 category in 34:43. Hepworth, Shaw and team-mate Nick Steel in fourteenth place combined well to ensure that ESM took the men’s team award, with Ealing Eagles a close second.
The first female was Woking’s Jaydee Peters in 30:49 followed by West 4 Harrier and Gunnersbury parkrun regular Isobel Rea in 31:34. Third place went to Sasha Birkin of Metros in a time of 32:37. With the first two finishers being veteran W35 runners, this age category prize was awarded to Sarah Mcintosh of West 4 Harriers, with her team-mate Rachel Badham winning the W45 category. Caroline White of London Heathside took the honours in the W55 category. West 4 Harriers won the women’s team prize, their scoring trio comprising Rea, Badham and Mcintosh. Ealing Eagles finished second.
Two fifths of entrants were Ealing residents, and there was good support from the West London running scene. ESM itself fielded 48 runners: spot Sarah Gerrie (our first female), Pete Drew, Steve Curd and Leanne Smith in the photo below. There were 68 Ealing Eagles, 17 Metros, 11 West 4 Harriers, 14 from Shepperton Running Group. Many others travelled from across London and the Home Counties to take part, with North London club London Heathside sending 18 members. One in three were casual runners, and the fastest male in the Borough unattached to a club was Darren Young in 30:49. The fastest unattached local female was Pringla Awale Rai in 43:38. Pringla is a regular runner and volunteer at the nearby Northala Fields parkrun and a good number of unaffiliated runners from there took part.
The 5 mile race was followed by a 2km Fun Run for Under 15s. Thirty-six youngsters took part, with ages ranging from 3 to 14. Arun Manget of ESM led them home in a little outside seven minutes, with Eric Eadie close behind in second place. Joshua Whitelam finished third. The first girl was Anna Dussalant of Ealing Eagles, followed by Lili Ram and Esme Walker. No less than nine members from Shepperton Running Group took part, resplendent in their purple team T-shirts. Click here for the Fun Run results.
The Perivale 5 event is generously sponsored each year by Prince Evans Solicitors LLP. Thanks are due to all those who helped make the event happen, from officials, to marshals and the many other volunteers in a wide range of roles. You can find the full album of Lynn Wilson’s great photos on the Facebook page.
ESM results summary
Men (positions within total field)
3 Christopher Hepworth 27:00; 5 Simon Shaw (M40) 27:36; 14 Nick Steel 29:01; 18 Santosh Rai 30:04; 22 Nick Di Paolo 30:36; 28 Stephen Plummer (M50) 31:09; 31 Kirill Kondrasin (U20) 31:29; 38 Andy Price 32:02; 41 Nar Garbuja 32:29; 55 Peter Drew (M50) 33:06; 56 Ian Leslie (M50) 33:11; 60 Sean Hill 33:39; 72 Steve Curd 34:20; 100 Malcolm Woolsey 36:15; 103 Javaher Sondh 36:26; 107 Darren Halford (M40) 36:59; 115 Kevin Falvey 37:17; 117 Andy Leung (M40) 37:26; 126 Iskandar Mohammedi (M40) 37:54; 137 Tony Hursey (M40) 38:22; 164 Chris Brown (M50) 39:21; 181 Simon Turrell (M40) 40:40; 193 Davinder Sohal (M50) 41:30; 224 David Williams 44:22; 244 Philip Prince (M60) 46:24; 285 Laurence Messer (M60) 50:26
Women (positions within women’s field)
6 Sarah Gerrie 33:04; 11 Leanne Smith 34:19; 23 Patricia Thomas (W45) 36:48; 28 Jane Ruhland (W45) 37:32; 33 Carol Jones (W55) 38:04; 39 Katie Di Paolo 39:03; 41 Isabella Di Leonardo (W35) 39:09; 45 Louise Prince (W45) 39:34; 48 Catherine Gunnewicht (W45) 40:09; 50 Kate Fraser (W35) 40:23; 53 Liz Mann (W45) 40:42; 56 Annette Galloway (W45) 41:03; 57 Beverley Packwood (W45) 41:17; 60 Danielle Mercey (W55) 41:35; 66 Sarah Holroyd (W45) 43:44; 69 Clare Ryland (W45) 44:12; 72 Bridie Lebdiri (W45) 44:32; 92 Denise English (W45) 47:16; 93 Kristina Wilton (W35) 47:54; 94 Alison Turrell (W45) 47:59; 109 Sharon O’Neill 49:43; 126 Sughra Mohammedi 52:15
Full results here