Battersea Power

Photo: Richard McDowell

It was another big night under the lights in Battersea for Andrew Penney on 22 May, this time on the track at the Millennium Arena, rather than the circuit around the park on which he consolidated his place at the top of the HW all time 5K road rankings with a PB of 13:49 in February.  

Coming home in second in the Elite Men's race of the Comeback 5000m, just two seconds behind Ireland's Diarmuid Fagan, Andrew notched up a 14-second PB of 13:46.37. That time propelled him from sixth to second on the Club's all-time list (still topped by Chairman Dave Clarke's time of 13:22.54, set in 1983), and nailed an invitation to compete in the 5000m at the UK Championships in Birmingham, a second call-up following his debut in the 3000m at the Indoor Championships in February.

‘I’ve put in a lot of consistent training over the winter and spring and I definitely feel that fitness is starting to compound’, says Andrew. ‘I knew I was in good shape going into the race as I'd set indoor 3000m PBs over the winter and then had the big breakthrough over 5K on the road’, he says. ‘Since then I'd had a really good block of training so I thought I could run a big PB, but of course the hard thing is getting out and proving it. 

‘We were fortunate to have two very strong pacemakers to take us through 3km right on schedule. Consensus amongst the athletes just before the start was that 66s was the right pace and we'd hopefully have a good group to work together once the pacemakers dropped out. My individual game plan was 100% to go with that pace. I went through 3k in approx. 8:16. I think the fourth km was a touch slower, quite natural as the pacemakers drop out and the pack consolidates before the final moves/push for home. I closed in a 2:41 last km as I was able to pick it up a gear’.