Race Report: The 79th Victory 5 Mile 2025
- Matthew Hinshelwood
- Dec 9, 2025
- 3 min read
Conditions were tough from the gun in round 5 of the Hampshire Road Race League at the Victory 5 mile as 11 from the club made it to a wet and windy North Harbour car park on the outskirts of Portsmouth.
Persistent rain and a stiff wind made it a proper test of grit, with standing water in places and headwinds on the more exposed sections of the course. The route itself offered little in the way of variety or shelter, but it certainly rewarded discipline and hard work.
As we all lined up, the start line was a sea of colour with athletes in club vests huddled, desperately trying to stay warm and out the wind. This was of course a fruitless exercise, as the heavy drizzle and exposed location gave no hiding place from the elements.
Within a couple minutes of the gun going I was warm though. As we weaved our way around lap 1, several sharp corners and puddles saw plenty of nerves and jostling for position; try and minimise course distance whilst keeping the racing shoes as dry as possible. I decided to sharpen my elbows and go out hard, on the basis that all the corners meant finding space was important. And so it proved as the course narrowed after 1 km. Those additional places gained meant I didn’t have to worry about squeezing past people.
Heading out onto lap 2 it was much of the same, wind, rain and hard work. I managed to find a small group of 4 to work with, and settled in to a challenging pace. As soon as I thought about the pace and the pain, I started drifting off the group so I got my head down and tried to focus on my form; “High knees, good carry. Stay tall and on my today. Stop thinking about the effort, it’s hard for everyone. Except maybe that AFD guy, he looks like a proper runner. What am I doing up here with him? Why did even bother to do this race? Maybe pain is something more? Am I injured? Damn, focus! Follow. Rhythm. Pass with the tailwind.”
With 2 km to go, I pushed on, notably on a short rise leading to the narrow path again - the only slope of any real note on the course. Less than 7mins of effort, let’s go! A little worried I might have gone too early - but confident that any idea of a sprint at the end was never going to happen - I managed to drop the remaining 2 I was with and bridge over to 2 others who we were slowly catching. I stuck with them until about 400m to go, where I planned to give it a bit more grunt, only to realise there really was no more and that was that, hang on for another 90 seconds and see it home.
I finished 77th overall and 7th V40, coming away with a 5 mile PB in 29m 30s.
Water, mince pie and medal in hand, I went over to cheer others in. Within 5 minutes though I was rather cold again and had to find shelter. Sorry to miss some of you at the end, it really was not a day to be loitering!
Overall, this was one of those races where resilience mattered more than romance. The weather and course won’t live long in the memory, but the results certainly will. A very solid day’s work from the club and with full teams in the male and female race, we should see ourselves climb up the league again.
words by Matt Hinshelwood
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