I.A.U. 50k World Trophy Final – Gibraltar, 31st October 2009

The runners this year had to contend with unseasonably high temperatures in the 70’s along with late course changes and even last minute route changes and diversions. So times were not as the runners had predicted or paced for. Russell Maddams running in his first international event for his country was looking for a time of between 3 to 3hrs 10mins, but realised early on that the heat would play a major role in the pace and sensibly adjusted accordingly, finishing in a super 11th place in a time of 3.19.12. Russ was happy enough with his performance on the day but would have preferred a less challenging course that Gibraltar proved to be, with undulating sections and little or no distance markers to use for pace judgement! The verdict from the runners was that the course organisation was not at world standard and that serious consideration would have to be given for a return to the Island for future races. Russ will now have a few easy weeks recovery running, which is well earned after his three month build up for the 50k.