In it for the long run

After 20 years competing at national level as a runner, Dave Mitchinson decided it was time for a radical change

- David Bradford

“I ’d like to think it was tongue-in-cheek,” surmises Dave Mitchinson. “I can’t believe that someone with his knowledge of elite sport would seriously think he’d run that fast.”

He is referring to Tom Pidcock, who a few days earlier had posted on Strava a run entitled “5k PB 13.25” with data that appeared to support the claim. If true, it would have placed him second on the British all-time list for 5k. ‘Too good to be true’ was putting it mildly.

Mitchinson, an emergency services worker from Hertfordshire, is well qualified to comment: he has genuine PBs of 14.04 for 5,000m and 29.45 for 10k, and, having switched to cycling in 2016, is now an elite-category bike racer. Neither of us quite understands Pidock’s motivations for posting a far-fetched PB, but we agree that he was probably just capitalising on a GPS glitch to have a laugh and cause a stir. It’s not that he couldn’t run very fast given the right training, reckons Mitchinson. “My guess is that he could run 15.30 off his ability as a cyclist, as he’s built like a runner,” speculates the former UK half-marathon champion, “and maybe he could eventually run 13.30 if he put the work in – but it’d be pointless, as he wouldn’t be a salaried athlete doing that.”