Spruit leads ladies to glory
FREYA Spruit grabbed the headlines at the Bromham Christmas Pub 10k road race last weekend.
Spruit, a former winner of the Running Bath/chron competition, not only won the race but also clocked a personal best of 37mins 45secs.
That time shaved four seconds off her three-year-old previous mark to put her second in the 2022 club rankings behind Amber Gascoigne (36:31) and understandably left Spruit delighted.
“I’m really with that,” said Spruit. “The 10k has been a tricky one for me. I haven’t raced it much due to Covid but in September I started at Cardiff Met University [studying sports science] and I have started training with a big group and some very fast girls and both of those things have combined to ensure I have progressed a lot.”
Nonetheless, the 20-year-old admitted she lined up on a cold morning at Bromham without any great expectation of running a lifetime best.
“They weren’t the best conditions for a fast time so my focus wasn’t on times but racing well and trying to win it having finished second a couple of times before,” added Spruit.
“I was second until halfway so I just focussed on catching the girl ahead of me and once I got past her at 6k it was a case of working hard to stay ahead and holding my lead.
“To run a PB is such a good boost to my confidence as it has been a long time coming.”
Furthermore, Spruit also led Team Bath AC to the team title with excellent support from Jenny Carter, who was top veteran over 40 (40:02) and Ella Treby, winner of the under 20 prize (41:27).
The team was completed by super vet Jo Thompson (42:19), who won the over-60s top prize.
In the men’s race, leading Team Bath runner was James Donald in fifth (35:48) closely followed by Steve Rose in sixth and second veteran over-50 (35:51). Mike Dooley was third M50 in a solid time of 37:12.
DI Viles appears to have unearthed a new high jump star in her coaching group.
Representing the club for only the second time, Otis Poole won the South West U17s high jump title at Cardiff with a fantastic personal best of 1.84m.
Poole made his debut for Team Bath at the final Avon League match at Gloucester when he won the U15s high jump with 1.60m so that represents significant progress in such a short period of time.
Clubmate Jamie Semple also competed and equalled his PB with 1.60.
Also at Cardiff sprinter Emmanuel
Daso, who is in his first year at the club, lifted the SW under 15 boys’ 200m title with a time of 25.66secs.
The talented Daso also finished equal second in the high jump with 1.45m.
The athletics coverage in the Bath Chronicle is sponsored by Running Bath.