Newmarket 5k 2021
/10 Things I Think About The Newmarket 5k 2021
1. The Forgotten Race
I think that you know you enter too many races online when you start forgetting what you entered. The number for this race arrived in an unmarked envelope. I didn’t know what it was for initially as I was so certain I hadn’t entered this race that I had begun giving out about the race saying, “That’s a ridiculous race”. Then I got the email from the organizers matching the 69 on the number to the race, it would have been a shame to waste the number.
2. Paris Roubaix
I think that maturing your Vaporflys in a cellar for a few years before a big race might be a good idea. The cyclists do this with their tires for Paris Roubaix. My pair were stranded in San Francisco for 18 months so they had plenty of time to mature. They were manufactured around the same time as the pink and yellow vintage Vaporflys which everyone knows are the best vintage. They definitely felt extra bouncy after the 18 months maturing.
3. Jeyes Fluid
I think that I was very right the last time I was in Newmarket for a race. It was just before the world closed down and I predicted that it might be the last race for a while, hopefully it won’t close down again a week later like the last time. There was no jeyes fluid on display this time so I would think a lockdown is unlikely.
4. Don’t forget your Vaporflys if you want to go to work
I think that if you forgot your Vaporflys for this race you’d have been in big trouble. I would estimate that approximately 100% of the runners were wearing Vaporflys. In the battle of the Olympians Eddie Dunbarr had the white and pink Next%2 and Paul O’Donovan had the pink Next%s. They should start giving prizes for the first non-vaporfly runner at this stage, it could become a good category.
5. Kilometre Uno
I think that the first kilometer of this race is the problem I have with this race. The course is very ridiculous. The first kilometer is very downhill and you never have to give back the downhill. If it was the Leaving Cert this would be the accredited grades option of 5ks, you won’t be disappointed with your result. After an initial false start which I had nothing to do with we tore off down the hill at an impossibly fast speed.
6. Breaking 16
I think that the conditions for this race were the type of conditions that Eddie Dunbarr’s Team Ineos scientists would pick for a 5k world record attempt. The temperature was about 10 degrees, there was almost no wind and the sky was lightly blue. It was sort of like the conditions for the breaking 2 in Vienna just in Newmarket and downhill.
7. Cones
I think that every race should have a cone that you turn at. I like cones in races as you get to see who is behind you. When we got to the cone at about 3k I had a look at who was behind. The only one I was worried about was Bernard. I was right.
8. Niall and the Arm warmers
I think that I picked the wrong person to run behind after the cone. When we turned at the cone there was an ever so slight headwind on the way back to Newmarket. It wasn’t noticeable at all if you ran behind someone. I had two choices to run behind, Niall O’Riordan or a guy in arm warmers. The guy with the arm warmers was bigger so I picked him. This was a mistake as Niall dropped him and I had to bridge across to Niall which made me very tired.
9. Tour de Pharmacy
I think that this is a great race if you want to have a race. There were so many good runners in the race that no matter where you were there was someone to race. Once we got back to Newmarket Bernard appeared on my shoulder in his mustard and green Vaporflys. I thought I might be able to beat him but he seemed to have measured the race perfectly and went straight by me and bridged across the gap to Niall that I thought was unbridgeable. By the time I could think of trying to make an effort to catch up we were down the hill and across the line.
10. Ridiculous
I think that running a downhill 5k race like this could result in a tormenting next 12 months until Newmarket is on again next year. Course records are a far better idea than PBs. The Newmarket 5k is ridiculous, ridiculously good, ridiculously fast.
