Several of Bedford and County AC’s athletes were in action at the Great North Run on Sunday.

Without doubt, the outstanding run of the day must go to Josh Lunn, who ran out of his skin to finish in 15th place with the phenomenal time of 64:25, a mere 4 secs outside the Bedford club record. Josh, who’s previous personal best was 66:29 from last winter, had been hoping to run in the low to mid 65’s. But no doubt inspired by lining up on the elite start line alongside Mo Farah, Josh proceeded to exceed all expectations with his brilliant performance.

A fast start saw him running sub 5 minute miles from the off, going through 10K in 30:30. Running much of the race in a small group which contained GB international Derek Hawkins (brother of Callum who finished 4th), Josh went through 10 miles in under 49 mins. He really began to hurt in the last 3 miles, losing 10-15 secs a mere 800m from the finish as he was forced to stop to be sick.

But all the pain was turned to joy as he crossed the finish line in 64mins 25secs, an average speed of 4:55 per mile, finishing in 15th place overall, 5th British athlete, and with a World Half Marathon qualifying time to his credit. A truly magnificent, and well deserved reward for all his hard work. Josh, who is coached by brothers Simon and Mark Goodwin, now looks forward to his marathon debut, in Frankfurt, in a couple of months time, where he will be aiming to break the 2hour 20mins barrier.

Josh’s training partner, Mike Channing also had a great run, knocking 2 minutes off his personal best to finish in 32nd place overall with the excellent time of 68:59.