WENDY Nicholls believes her victory in the inaugural Bristol 10k road race was one of the best performances of her career, writes KEVIN FAHEY.
The Fairford-based international produced a storming finish to the new event held on Monday to catch pre-race favourite Louise Damen within sight of the finish line.
Having been third with one kilometre to go victory represented a massive triumph for Nicholls - and the fact that she scooped £1000 for winning was a nice bonus.
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"If my husband Justin and coach (Dave Wright) hadn't been there in the last half a mile I probably wouldn't have won it as they were screaming at me," said Nicholls, pictured right.
"At 9k I was resigned to finishing third as Louise and Claire Martin of Telford had opened a gap on me.
"But my coach shouted to me remember Bourton' when I also won the race in the closing stages so when I saw the sign 400 metres to go I put in a big sprint.
"I caught Claire with 350 metres left and I over-took Louise as we reached the sign for the last 100 metres.
"I think she was a bit surprised because she must have thought the race was hers at that stage."
It was certainly the ideal time to take the lead for the first time in the race and Nicholls gave Damen no chance to respond as she crossed the line in 34mins 07secs to pick up not just the first prize of £500 but also the £500 bonus as top British runner.
"It hurt but it was well worth it," added Nicholls.
"I had to dig deep and I'm not sure where it came from because I haven't been happy with my form for the last few weeks. In fact, the previous week I did my slowest ever time at the Bridge Inn 5k so to win the Bristol 10k is a big confidence boost."
Nonetheless, Nicholls will now take an active rest' to clear up a niggling Achilles tendon injury.
"I'll do some swimming and cross training for the next 7-10 days and then come back fresh and ready for the summer season," said Nicholls.
In the men's race Whelford's Chris Illman made the top 20 of the 4,000-strong field in 17th place though wasn't happy with his time of 32mins 56secs, which was well outside his personal best of 31:11.
However, Illman had run the 5000m at the British Students Championships on Saturday before clocking 16mins 03.70secs in the heats.
RESULTS
Men: 1 Jean Ndayasenga (Birch/Burundi) 29:08; 2 Phil Nicholls (Tip) 29:35; 3 Zak Kihara (Birch/Kenya) 29:50; 4 Adrian Marriott (Wells) 30:30; 5 Mark Williams (Tip) 30;43; 6 Toby Lambert (Alton) 30;43; 7 Jon Wills (B&W) 30;46; 8 Alan OShea 30:59; 9 Rob Whalley (B&W, M40) 31:16; 10 Ewen Malloch (WG) 31:33.
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