The Dave Lucas Memorial 10k

The Dave Lucas Memorial 10k (formerly Blaisdon 10k) is an annual race in the small village of Blaisdon in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Organised by Forest of Dean AC, it takes place on a Tuesday evening in July. This year, it was part of the Gloucestershire AAA road race series, which I’m taking part in again. It was also the 10k county championship race. I went in as the LV50 10k county champion, but I knew retaining my title wouldn’t be easy. My rival in the series is stronger than ever this year.

The Dave Lucas Memorial 10k took place in the third heatwave of summer 2026 – the one which wasn’t quite as hot, but lasted a lot longer. I was dreading another race in 28 or 29 degrees, but I’d survived the Stroud Beer Race in those temperatures. I’d also done a speed endurance training session a few days earlier in 31 degrees (we stayed in the shade and on the flat and it was surprisingly comfortable).

Before the race, I learned that the presentations were at 9:15pm, despite the race starting at 7:15 and having a 90-minute cut-off and that the parking was really limited and I would get blocked in. I also discovered it was a gun to chip race ie no chip timing at the start. This isn’t good for people like me, because I can’t line up on the front line with the 30-something men who are going to win the race, but I need to have all the advantages on my side if I’m going to win my age category. I also learned there was no shade.

Race HQ was the Red Hart Inn in Blaisdon. We’d been told not to park in the pub, but some people had. I was directed into a small field to park. I never reverse park, but I did, for fear of tight manoeuvring afterwards! I arrived really early, because I’d been concerned about some roadworks on the A40 Over Bridge on the way. I picked up my race number and timing chip for my shoe from the registration in the pub garden. There was one portaloo in the pub car park, but most people were using the pub toilets and there wasn’t a queue.

There were good turnouts from some of the local clubs – Severn AC, Stroud AC, Dursley Running Club and Western Tempo. Our club was just me and three much older men.

The good news is, the race was being timed by Lush Timing, who do a lot of the local races, and it was a chip start after all! I started close to my rival and edged past her early on. I knew I wouldn’t necessarily stay in front of her. The start is a slight downhill. I looked at my watch – I was running 6:53 minute/ miles. That is way too fast even in normal weather, but definitely in the heat. I slowed down a bit, but was still running at 7:15 pace, which is 10k PB pace. I was never going to run a PB in 28 degree heat.

After the initial downhill, the course is basically a long, gradual uphill, right until the turning point. The race is all on tarmac roads, which aren’t closed, so headphones were completely banned, unfortunately. Music would have helped take my mind off how hot and tired I was. We were told to keep left and I did. Some people drifted to the right or the middle, particularly if there was shade. I’m pleased to say that my friend who’d told there was no shade was wrong. There was some!

Running in the heat is exhausting, but I was happy with my pace. I overtook a couple of people and a couple of people overtook me. Usually there’s just the one water stop at the 5k turning point, but there was an extra one about halfway to the turn, so we got to pass it twice. Each time, I took some water, slurped a mouthful and threw the remainder on myself. As it was so hot, I was carrying my own little bottle of electrolytes anyway. I was surprised that not many people were.

I was starting to see people running in the other direction. Now it made a lot more sense why we had to keep left. A couple of them shouted well done to me, which was nice.

The Dave Lucas Memorial 10k is a complete out and back. The turning point is at exactly 5k. There was a final steep climb before the turn. And then I was running gradually downhill. It wasn’t long before my age category rival overtook me and pulled away from me quite quickly. I wondered if I might catch her towards the end, but the gap between us kept getting bigger.

At about 6k, there was a Sainsbury’s lorry behind me. And then were was an Ocado lorry coming in the opposite direction! What are the chances of that on a narrow country lane? The Ocado lorry got past, but the Sainsbury’s lorry stayed behind me right until 8k. I was really grateful that he didn’t put my safety, or the safety of the other runners, at risk and waited until it was definitely safe to go past.

I knew that the last half a mile or so was slightly uphill. It was very hot, there was nobody between me and my rival and nobody behind me. So to prepare myself for that final push, I had a short walk to get my heart rate down before tackling the final hill. A little family cheering me on gave me just the boost I needed for the last quarter of a mile.

Finally, the pub and the finish line were in sight! I felt like I sprinted for the line, but it probably wasn’t a sprint. I high fived my rival, who was sat on the ground. She’d finished 30 seconds ahead of me and told me she’d ‘crawled’ across the line. Someone handed me a cup of water and someone else removed the tag from my shoe.

I was 11th female overall, 2nd in the 50-54 category and finished in 48:40. Without the heat, I would expect to finish two or three minutes faster than that. But I was happy I’d given my all.

There was a barbecue in the pub garden, so I bought myself a very welcome veggie burger and waited for the presentations. I’m pleased to say, they did them at 8:45 rather than 9:15. My silver 10k county medal is added to my growing collection of county medals.