Teenager runs amok in Deeping as PANVAC dominate 10k race
Fifteen is the minimum age that the sports governing body allow an athlete to race a 10k, and Louie Hemmings won the Deepings 10k just 10 days after his 15th birthday.
The Peterborough & Nene Valley AC youngster is now one of the youngest runners to have won a race of that distance in Britain.
He could've been forgiven for taking a cautious approach due to his inexperience, but Hemmings was having none of it and broke away from the lead group at the 4k mark winning by a comfortable margin of 30 seconds with a time of 34:16.
His winning time was equal to his fastest 5km time x two. That would be a difficult feat for any runner to pull off and is hugely impressive for one so young & relatively inexperienced.
It was a morning of double delight for PANVAC athletes with Hannah Knight finishing as first lady with a time of 39:05.
PANVAC also won the men's team prize with Harry Ledger finishing 5th in 35:53 & Sam Ground 6th in 36:19.
The yellow vests of Yaxley & Werrington were very much to the fore, and with six finishers in the top 18 Yaxley won the prizes for 2nd and 3rd men's teams.
Darren Hiller placed 4th in 35:33 with Jordan Buttigieg 5th, three seconds further back. Craig Bradley finished 9th in 36:24, and Steve Lomax, George Dove & Jason Kwan came home 16th, 17th & 18th respectively.
Lomax clocked 38:37, with Dove five seconds behind & Kwan a further four seconds down. Michael Branston & Hugh Burton, both of Yaxley were the first over 50 & over 55 with respective finishing times of 39:41 & 40:49.
Miguel Cann was Werrington’s first finisher placing 8th in 36:24. Cann was also the leading over 60. Matt Doyle finished 15th with a 38:33 clocking.
Helpston’s Philippa Taylor was the 3rd lady home in 40:17 with Lottie Hemmings, the sister of the race winner, 4th in 41:39. Hemmings is at university in Norwich and currently represents City of Norwich AC.
Werrington’s Jennifer Teachey placed 5th in 41:56 with her team-mate Ann Wood 15th in 46:15.
Yaxley won the ladies team prize courtesy of Abi Branston, Ros Loutit and Vanessa Gunn who placed 6th, 7th & 8th respectively. Branston clocked 43:22, with Louit just behind in 43:39 and Gunn 14 seconds further back.
Elisabeth Sennitt Clough and Alison Staines, both of PANVAC ran well. Sennitt Clough finished 10th in 44:28 with Staines clocking 46:07 for 12th place.
PANVAC’s Finlay Smith won the junior 3km race with Bella Wiseman of Yaxley the first girl.