Eastway 5k All Time List

The Eastway 5k was a staple of the Chingford League until 2006 when Eastway Cycle Circuit was demolished to make way for the London Velopark, used in the 2012 Olympic Games.

Excerpt from 2006 magazine article below:

E A S T W A Y  R E M E M B E R E D
Club members should be aware that Eastway races are to be held no more, due to the building plans for the 2012 Olympics. It seems appropriate to delve a little into the past for this event, which many in the club have enjoyed competing in. Just as a reminder they are 5km races held on an undulating 1 mile cycle circuit in Hackney, as part of the Chingford League (recently 3 times per season – two in autumn and one in spring).

Personally I have had a love/hate relationship with the course over the years. Love because it was really useful to use a known course, of a known distance, as regular measure of one’s fitness and progress. Lately it has been hate, as I do feel that it a course that is only to be competed on when one is really fit, as it is so unforgiving – and I just haven’t fulfilled that criteria for a number of years now. I have hidden behind the “I am coaching my group at Copthall on Tuesdays” excuse a lot recently, although the odd foray there has happened, with predictable results to my shattered ego. It is also so easy to play the boring “people don’t run it nearly as fast as they used to, the standards these days are right down on what they used to be in my prime” verbal game with people (see later).

Genesis of the Eastway Course
29 Jan 78: Experimental daytime race.
Walthamstow AC, VPH, and Eton Manor produced teams of 4 to cover 10 laps at Eastway.
14 Feb 78: An evening Mob Match was held at Eastway (VPH vs Walthamstow vs Eton Manor) to assess the possibility of holding a Chingford League race. The course was given as 3 miles 130 yards and John Anstey won in 15:56. A few years ago, John mentioned that this was NOT the current day course.
7 Nov 78: First Chingford League race at Eastway. VPH finished 7th of 8 clubs. The distance was given as 3 miles 260 yards.

Although always envisaged as a cycle circuit one of the main stalwarts behind the building of this circuit was the late Ron Pickering (a well known athletics coach). The track record for a rolling start on a bike is 2m 1s (it is 1 mile circuit). For you bikies, it has been raced on by such luminaries as: Eddy Merckx, Sid Barras, Phil Anderson, Sean Yates, Robert Millar, and Barry Hoban.

Earliest time on our all-time lists:

Nov 78: amongst others, John Street did 15-43, so the club was competing there right from the start. For
comparison our Vicky Park 5m all-time lists show that the 3rd fastest ever time was set by Tony Reavley with 24-18 in Feb 1968, so that has been going at least 10 years longer.

The race where the club record was set was reported thus in the Dec 1986 club mag:

WHOOSH!!
Ralph’s back, Ade’s flying. This is getting stupid. It was that time of the month again and everyone must know what happens on a Tuesday. To say the least this Eastway was something else and Ralph’s to blame. At the first Eastway Ralph ran 15-41 and was pleased with his run, “Give me three or four races to find my racing legs and I’ll be there” were almost his words. I had a funny feeling something was on as he warmed up, something in my head that tonight he’ll be going for it. Ade was also going to run well, but Sunday [5th at Ampthill cross country – ED] had tired him out a little bit. Me, I was just going to hang on. The A team again wasn’t as strong as it should have been and we were knocked down to fourth overall which hasn’t happened to us for quite a while.

The normal couple of hundred Seniors wandered down to the start and then we were on our way. It was a very strong field. Haringey seemed to have an endless supply of runners at the moment, you can’t seem to get away from them. At the front, Ralph and Adrian were giving each other a right race and holding nothing back. The break was made and the two of them and Seamus Kerr of Enfield were on their own. He went on to win but such was the pace that he ran a PB (I think) being chased by two Barnet members! Ralph got the better of Adrian and smashed the club record out of this world. The first Barnet man under 15 minutes for the course and now a first at being the record holder for both the Boys [2 mile – ED] and Senior records!! To say the least Adrian was a bit p****d off with Ralph but he can’t complain about his time. Mike E ran a PB by 4 seconds but finished 4 places further down than last time, which showed how strong the field was. The team places weren’t good except for the Vets who won yet again! Thank God we’ve got a couple of months before the next one, I can’t handle it once a month!!
Mike Earthy

Scoring team that day:
2 Ralph Bailey 14-55
3 Adrian Mason 14-58
12 Mike Earthy 15-16
36 Zac 16-20
41 Chris Emerson 16-29
47 Jim Southey 16-42

NB: Ralph and Mike’s times remain 1st and 4th on the all-time list. Adrian improved his PB by 1 second in Nov 1988. Seamus Kerr was joint holder of the final course record, along with Colin Moxom.
Steve Chilton