HOT NEWS RACE REPORTS
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Previous years : 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 |
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Sunday 7th March 2010
The Grizzly |
| Sunday was Grizzly time again. 20 plus miles of incredibly testing multi-terrain running. The weather was fantastic wall to wall sunshine albeit with a fresh north easterly wind. The course was tougher than ever with more hills, more mud, more shingle, more cliff paths and more water. This was reflected in the winner’s time which was over 10 minutes slower than when he won the race last year. I love this race although it is a busy one with 1500 plus starters. I know Nigel was in among them but I didn't see him either at the start or finish. This is a race that assaults the senses…sounds include Japanese drummers, Scots pipers, Country and Western duos, folk bands and a didgeridoo player plus of course wheezing runners, cries of pain and feet on shingle. Smells include incense from a Buddhist shrine, bacon and eggs, fish and chips and those old favourites farmyard waste - sweaty liniment embalmed runners. I finished 321st out of 1500 in 3:31:02. This was 10 places closer to winning than last year...if I keep up this rate of progress by my calculation I reckon I should win outright in 2043 (just in time for my 90th birthday). Dave Here's Nigel's take on the day. I was just tempted to send in the report on this one as "same as Dave just slower!" Not really sure where to start as Dave has already given a great description of the general details and atmosphere of the race. Personally I think I is one of the best races I have every taken part in and one of the most bizarre. I don't think I will never forget getting to the top of one of the hills only to be greeted by a kilt-wearing bagpipe-playing Scotsman (no, not you Scott!) or trying to climb the "Stairway to Heaven" having just run (or stumbled ) along a shingle beach which had seemed to go on forever! I eventually got around in about 4:16 tired but having had a great day. If you haven't done this race before my advice is give it a go at some point. It is superbly organized event in a beautiful part of the world and is a real challenge! Nigel |
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Sunday 7th March 2010
Old Deer Park 10k, Richmond |
| My first 10k in about 10 years was at Fordingbridge last May but since then Di & I have managed to put together a reasonably consistent period of run training. That said when dodging the rally cars in the New Forest last weekend, Di had tweaked her achillies. We had no real expectations of this race, it was described as a flat, fast course but I’ve heard that before… Based on the times we had run at the Somerley 5k, Di was on for around about the 53 minute mark and I was looking to squeeze under the hour. The start was on the pitches near to London Scottish ground and the Pools in the Park area of Richmond. The race was well organised with chip timing, a baggage storage area, massage area and coffee stall. There was a group warm up but Di & I did our own thing and warm up checking out the last 2km run into the finish straight. The first three k are on the road, running around the outside of Kew Gardens before turning onto the tow path that heads down towards Richmond Bridge. We went through the 1st k marker in a cheeky 5.20, note to self – don’t go off too fast. For the first 2k I managed to stay with Di but we all know how competitive she is, so by the 3k mark she had started to pull ahead and by the tow path was out of sight, out of mind. I did a quick check at the 5k mark and went through that in around 26.43, so well on course for my target time. The tow path consisted of a lot of areas of broken tarmac, the scenery and action on the river enabled the mind to wander though. As you would expect not a lot of wiggle room on a tow path, not when there was a 10 mile race coming the other way towards you. The last 3k had you running past the turn in to the finish area, instead you had a 2k loop to complete before running back over a small, narrow bridge onto the playing fields. The last 400m were on grass into the finish chute. Di & I passed each other in the loop area towards the end of the race and whilst I was pleased as to how close I was to Di, I knew that I wasn’t close enough to catch up with her. Crossed the finish line in 53.56, so 5k splits of 26.43/27.13. I came home 180/378 finishers whilst Di gets the bragging rights again. Di finished in 52.35, 165/378. A great way to spend a Sunday morning at a well organised, friendly race. Di’s race report is next up. Scott Di’s Oh Dear Park 10k! For some strange reason I was quite excited about this event. Perhaps it was the idea of doing a race somewhere new or a test to see how the training was going. In fact I had the idea to skip through the station...but I didn’t. The morning of the race was cold but dry and sunny and we set off on the train to Richmond via a chilly Clapham. The event was well organised with a bag hold and timing chips! I figured out how to lace that on to my shoe and then a warm up to check out the last couple of kilometres. Really to keep warm as I was a tad cold! And Scott must have been as I never seen him do a warm up before. Then the start loomed and body heat and huddling seemed a good idea but the starter hooter sounded and we were off. But today I was good and gave Scott a good luck and see you later kiss with a discussion about the RV point sorted at the finish line – the St Johns Ambulance! Today I thought the race would be close between Scott and I, as he had been going well in training. For the first 2 to 3 km we were shoulder to shoulder weaving our way through runners on Kew Road. Then we turned for the river and the towpath where my attention was caught by a runner in a full dog outfit running in aid of the Guide Dogs. Now target was locked as I had this daft urge to catch him up and pull his tail! But as I caught him my attention was taken by runners back towards me! I could not understand as it did not add up to where the finish was. All of a sudden I panicked and swore on the inside as I briefly thought Scott had entered us in a 10 mile race not 10k. The next 2k were confusing as I still wasn’t sure and feared I was going too fast for 10mile and would not make it in one piece. A happy looking Gordon setter took my attention for a moment, running and bounding up the tow path! But at 7k the finish was consistent with the one I had seen and I smiled and pushed on. A lady who I had seen at the start was my next target and I pushed on. I briefly had a chat with a guy at 8k asking him who the other runners going the opposite direction were…a 10 or 20 mile race in preparation for London Marathon. So a few supporters cheered the runners on in the last couple of k but I could not say thanks at this time. No spare breath now. Then I saw Scott as I turned round and High Fived him. Then back to the target who in the end could not be caught by me! But I finished in under 53 minutes with a strange grimace come smile. I had come in under 55 minutes which had been my target. Then Scott came across the line looking really strong and probably relieved it wasn’t a multi loop course! All in all, a great race, with good organisation and a lovely route by the Thames which I would recommend. Great way to spend Sunday morning. Di |
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Saturday 6th March 2010
Spring Ballbuster, Boxhil, Surrey |
| Gra made his almost annual trip to Box Hill. This event is one of my favourites because it is such a test as it consists of five laps of an 8 mile circuit, finishing every lap with an ascent of Box Hill. It starts with a one lap run, then three laps on the bike & if that wasn't bad enough, it then finishes off (or you off) with another run to the finish. Nikki & I travelled up Friday afternoon because we just don't trust the M25 to be clear on Saturday morning as I have travelled before on race day & was held up due to a crash further up the road, but I managed to get to the start just in time. After that experience I vowed never to do that again. Race morning was cloudy with a temperature of 4 deg C so just decided on arm & toe warmers for the bike. Arrived pretty early at transition so got bike racked with plenty of space around me then went off to do my normal warm up routine. The race started at exactly 8am & I always start this run with a steady pace & try not to get dragged into a real foot race, but always working well. At the end of lap one everything went OK with no problems so into T1 where I got informed by my Support Coach that I was in 64th position. I then get my trusty steed out of T1 with a long run across the field then through a car park, which in cycling shoes is always uncomfortable, to the mount line. This is where I started to work hard as I started to overtake what seemed to be quite a lot of people on the first lap. I reached the climb & used 42x23 which made it nice & easy to spin up the hill. In the second lap, I didn't seem to be overtaking so many people but was still going well & as for the third lap, I was very lonely as there was no-one to overtake & no-one overtook me. Off the bike & headed into T2 across a very stony, rough terrain which made me feel like I was waddling like a duck whilst trying to run in my cycling shoes. I racked my trusty steed only to be told by my Support Coach that I was now in 18th place but I had a group of approx 5 people right on my heals so I knew that the final 8 mile run was going to be a real race. Exiting T2 there was one guy about 800 metres ahead of me. Could I catch him? Well eventually, after about 3 miles, I did & as I was still feeling OK I pushed on past him then up to 4 miles, where I reached the drink station, only to be passed by a real runner - he was flying - & there was no way I was going to catch or hold on to him, so just concentrated on running my own race &, with no-one around me, I had to concentrate hard & focus on running well as I reached the bottom on Box Hill for one final push to the finish line. The only annoying part about this was on the very last hairpin, some guy overtook me & I was also unable to hold onto him, but managed to stay strong up the final part of the hill to finally cross with the line with my balls well & truly busted!!! Total time: 3:10:13 First run - 56:46 (T1 - 1:20) Bike - 1:16:00 (T2 - 1:26) Second run - 54:41 Out of 210 competitors, I came 19th overall & 1st in my age group (45-49) Post race report - We stayed for the prize presentation (because of the car park situation we couldn't move anywhere) so we sat applauding the winners & then they went to the age group presentation & they were doing the top five in age group 40-49, so when they called out fifth place & I wasn't there, I had lost all hope of winning a prize, but then 4th place was called out & it was me. Nikki yelped & I was very surprised as this was such a big age group, so I walk away £30 richer & with a Human Race body warmer as well. Then we get home & look on Tri247 website & find that I have actually won my 45-49 age group & ran a negative split on the second run, so all in all my Winter training seems to be paying off. I would just like to wish all the readers a healthy & successful 2010 race season. Gra Coach Note – Di & I had on the course updates from Nikki and it was good to see the online support posted for Gra on Facebook & Twitter. |
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Sunday 14th Feb
Seville Marathon |
| Matt has been out in Spain for a couple of weeks so while Dave was loathing Lytchett, Matt was at the Seville Marathon - Great report Dave sounds like a struggle finding those checkpoints! I have only just got back from Spain, so thought I would give a brief report as to my trip to Seville. Basically was training well 'til early/mid Jan with this race in mind however came up against an issue whereby any run over about 30 min or intense exercise meant that I needed a toilet stop. This got a bit annoying on a 2 hour run hunting for public conveniences, or in worse cases public houses with diners gazing up from their Sunday roasts at a guy in lycra tights and T shirt removing a bandana and hunting round for the gents - not good…Therefore went to doctors but nothing found so thought I would leave it a couple of weeks of no distance running to see how I went. The day before I flew out went for 45 mins lunchtime steady run which I had to cut short and dash back so not good prep or worth resting for. Flew to Spain on Weds AM for a couple of days in the mountains at altitude before heading to Seville on the Friday. Thought I might run but absolutely brutal conditions total whiteout, loads of snow, wind etc. didn’t want to spend any time outside so a run was out of the question. Seville on Friday 12th Feb was hammering down with rain so didn’t walk to get my race number or check out the expo as I had planned. Saturday AM off to the race expo which was a 40 minute walk away, slightly longer than I had hoped but Jess who was with me wanted to hire a bike from the stands which are all over the place and cycle round the course watching the following day. Its free for 1/2 hour so I did some sprint work back from the expo to the hotel trying to beat her on the bike, I think the locals thought I was nuts or had robbed the nearest bank….but this training though I had been a bit suspicious of it initially has worked well for me since Scott put it on my program last year so I always do a bit of sprint work the day before a race if I can. Coach Note – it was actually a short, high intensity session – not specifically sprints up & down the road!! Got back had lunch and popped a couple of Imodium tablets in preparation for the following day. Race day arrived 4 slices of white bread, couple of biscuity breakfast bars and 2 more Imodiums, I was ready. Our cab took us to the Olympic stadium in darkness where I arrived at 8am for a 9am stadium start. The race starts and finishes here. This was a pretty low key race with about 4000 entrants but what a great deal you get. It is a flat course though not too inspiring but for your 16 euro's you get a pre and post race pasta party (though I cannot vouch for either as they were not on when I was around the expo), a rather large medal, a full running kit (tech vest, tech shorts, cap), towel as well as drinks every 2.5km plus it is chip timed too - how do they do it for that?? Anyhow pre race a couple more toilet stops, bit of energy drink, stretch etc. watch the Kenyans and Ethiopians trying to run on the indoor warm up track as others just roam unaware was quite amusing then off to the stadium track for the start. I made a schoolboy error of standing at the front of the 2:30 - 3 hrs section which I thought I was overegging my chances a bit but quickly realised that the Spanish people were more optimistic than that and hundreds ended up in front at the elite area when the 4 hour section would have been more appropriate, anything to get photographed at the front I guess. Anyhow the race started and although nervous about the toilet issue I felt pretty good. It was rather cold and many were sporting gloves and arm warmers but I thought I would warm up later in the race so didn’t bother with this. Spent the first 2 miles dodging other runners and nipping through gaps not ideal but then joined a group who were working well. My hands and arms were freezing until 10km but then just about managed to hold a drink (water only as I didn’t know the energy drink) and open a gel. Stayed with this group and felt that I could go quicker but it was hard pacing myself but warmer when tucking in so that was my motivation. Through half way in 1:22:16 just a case of holding this pace I thought. After a couple of km on I thought I would try to push on from the group of about 10 others and went for it. Unfortunately it was not so easy into a headwind and after about 3km I was pulled back and went straight through the group to the back. I hung on just about until about 30km but this was really hard work and then the wheels came off and the lack of preparation and stamina told. I had given Jess an energy gel on race morning for me and told her to pass it to me when I ran by but I thought I would see her before the 32km point but boy did I need it. I felt like I was walking between 32 and 40km as people came by me regularly but I just couldn’t respond. Jess was cycling on the other side of a bridge shouting encouragement at me during this time, which I think helped until she was telling me times which I knew weren’t true, so I begun listening less and less to this. I knew I just had to hang in and once I got to the 40km marker I had renewed zest (or the gel kicked in) and managed to overtake a few into and around for the stadium for my usual (well I like to think) sprint finish. Coach Note – most gels require about 400ml of water to aid ingestion and take about 20 min to kick in. Matt’s doesn’t mention what he took in between 10-30km, so that may be a possible explanation for the slow down. I was well happy that no toilet stops were required or stomach issues occurred. Finishing time was 2:49:42 (153rd overall) which was outside of 2:45:00 my ideal target but getting a PB and under 2:50:00 was pleasing considering that I didn’t think I would get round leading up to the race. To summarise if people are looking for a PB course, weekend away and cheap race entry then this one could be for you. Catch you all soon Matt |
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Sunday 14th Feb 2010
Tedium but podium |
| Lytchett 10 Dave may have left Pete somewhere in the New Forest as he was out at this one on his own. I did this race last year and found it boring and tedious. This year it was also boring and tedious. I finished in 68:36, 52nd out of 356 and third in my age category. The time was 22seconds quicker than 2009. Perhaps in 2011 I will remember not to enter this one! Coach Note - whilst Dave was setting a PB at Lytchett, Matt was setting a PB at the Seville Marathon, getting home in 2:49 but it wasn't easy as his upcoming race report will show. |
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Saturday 6th Feb 2010
Dynamic Adventure Endurance Race New Forest |
| Dave & Pete's Dynamic Adventure Race This was an 8 hour event aimed at intermediate to experienced adventure racers comprising a bike and run stages with some night navigation thrown in. Pete Meteau kindly entered us into this event as a team believing that the 5 hour challenge event held on the following day would be too easy for us. It became evident even at the event briefing that we were 'out of our class'. the other competitors were all much much younger, leaner and meaner than us, and had all the latest kit. Pete and I opted to bike first as we are more evenly matched in this discipline. This also meant that we would complete the night stage on foot which would probably be safer. We set off with a batch of other teams all heading in the same direction to the first control point. As a head down cyclist shot past us Pete yelled 'Stay with him' as I always obey police instructions I spun my legs and set off in hot pursuit. Unfortunately this resulted in me dropping Pete within the first kilometer. very reminiscent of a three up time trial that I did with (briefly) Di and Nigel. We wasted valuable time trying to find each other before failing to locate control point one. We subsequently improved on this unimpressive start by taking a more considered approach. The control points were challenging and difficult to spot being about the size of a clothes peg and with helpful clues like 'at the base of a fir tree'..for those of you not familiar with the forest there are a number of fir trees in the area. Unsurprisingly we managed to get lost only realising our error when we found ourselves caught up in the middle of the local hunt. We found ourselves surrounded by horses, dogs, hunt supporters and police. I think they were all more bemused by us than the other way round. We eventually re-orientated ourselves and enjoyed cycling through a very wet forest in search of more fiendishly hidden controls before returning to transition for a cup of tea and flapjack( transition is more relaxed in adventure racing than triathlon). The run was good fun and we found ourselves in some glorious locations as the afternoon wore on and a glorious sunset formed. We even managed to pick up a few (very few in all honesty) points but arrived back without incurring any time penalties. An analysis of our performance shows that we had a valid reason for failing to win (there were two world adventure racing champions in the field) but none for finishing last. |
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Sunday 31st Jan 2010
Heartbreak Half Marathon |
| Heartbreak Half- Marathon (ish) This race was due to be a 14 mile run and a good test to see how the Winter miles have been progressing. But I had a slight disappointment as the Race Director, Richard Iles, cut the distance down to 10.6 miles for safety reasons, due to ice on many parts of the course. As for my warm up, that consisted of sitting from 8am to 10am watching the Australian men’s tennis final, which was rudely interrupted by a power cut at 9:,so I went & did a proper warm up. The new course consisted of a 5½ minute climb from the bottom of Sandy Balls holiday park up towards the main car park & then out onto the road. We then turned into the Forest which had two steep up & downs. One of these was covered in ice & the second included running through a ford, but once we were up on the plain we had a gentle downhill run into Frogham, at which point we turned round to retrace the course back to Sandy Balls holiday park. As for the race itself, during the climb from the bottom of Sandy Balls all the way to the top to the road section, I was in 9th position, & at this point the first two ladies overtook me. The first one disappeared but I managed to keep in touch with the other plus one other guy. Down the two descents I lost a bit of contact because of the ruts & the ice but managed to get it back along the drop-down to the Frogham car park. On the way back from he turn around, I passed Dave heading down towards the car park & he gave me some words of encouragement. So with his words ringing in my ears, I managed to drop the guy but still worked well with the lady runner. However, on the second to last descent, me being cautious & thinking about this year’s races & not wanting to do anything silly, got dropped by the lady & overtaken by a much better descender than me. On the way back to Sandy Balls I worked very hard to pull them both back but was unable to beat them to the finish line. Overall time - 1:09:29 11th overall, 9th male & 4th in my age group Gra My race report is similar to Graham's but shorter and slower. I struggled early in the race possibly due to the cold conditions or the after effects of a late breakfast. The second half was good fun and I almost didn't want the race to stop so pity it wasn't the full distance. I finished in 1:17:34, 38th and 5th among the over 50's, although they had me down as being in the over 40's category. It could have been my youthful looks but more likely the fact that I had picked up a change in entry from a colleague. Dave |
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Wednesday 27th Jan 2010
Holiday Race Reports |
| A couple of race reports from Graham whose consistency showed with two top 10 placings during the Cristmas holidays. Boxing Day Poole Around the Lakes 10K - 26th December 2009 My goal was to dip under 40mins for this race. However, there was a slight change to the course, which meant that we didn't have to run out onto the top road, but instead we ran around the lake & then through the back of the old zoo, over the railway line & back along the cycle track which meant that we now have to do four laps instead of three as in previous years. The first two laps were alright, but then we started to catch the tail enders & there were lots of them, which meant plenty of dodging & weaving on very narrow tracks, but the goal was achieved with a time of 39:22, 37th overall & 7th in my age group. Broadstone 1/4 Marathon - 1st January 2010 I set myself a realistic goal for this race of 42mins, which I thought was achievable. The course consists of a mini hilly loop them two laps consisting of a gentle descent from Broadstone to Darby's Corner roundabout then left to go back up the Gravel Hill, which consists of four levels, up to the crematorium roundabout, then turn left again into a sharp climb before descending into Broadstone. I settled nicely into a group of four which worked well for the first lap, but then found myself on my own for most of the second lap until catching two people in front of me, & this turned into a good battle to the end, where I surprised myself with a reasonably good sprint finish to bring me in with a time of 41:51, 24th overall & 9th in my age group. Gra |
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27/01/2010
Team 2010 and where you may see us. |
| With cycling & triathlon handbooks now out the athletes and team members have been pencilling in their races for 2010. Here’s where you might see some of the athletes we are working with. February has an international feel to it. Julian will be working in the snow of Vancouver at the Winter Olympics & Paralympics whilst Derrick & Matt will be soaking up the Spanish sunshine. Derrick is out there as part of his preparation for the Ras, whilst Matt is running the Seville Marathon. March sees Graham race the Ballbuster; this is becoming something of a tradition for Gra. Tim has a couple of 100km sportive to get through and Di will be having a couple of 10km runs around Richmond and St Ives. April and the season is starting in earnest. With swim, bike and run events being competed. Matt is tempted with by the 5km swimathon in his Ironman build up. Tim is also cementing his IM biking with three sportive ranging from 100km to 100 miles. Derric is also on the bike, racing the three day Tour of Gorey in Ireland whilst Gra gets to return the favour of support crew, looking after Nikki at the Paris marathon. May is a mixture of longer stuff with Derric at the three day Tour of Ulster before finishing off the month with the eight day Ras cycle race. Gra is back out at the Swashbuckler Middle Distance Triathlon. June is another mixed month of swim, bike and run. Nikki is looking to the Great East Swim and Dave fancies the South Downs 100km Randonee. The rest of the athletes are looking to various distance triathlons; Matt will do his traditional Burnham on Sea race before racing at Wimbleball where he is looking to get a World Championship slot for 70.3 Clearwater. Derric is out at Tri Athy in Ireland and Graham is heading to Wales to race at Bala. July sees some key races. Tim is off to Ironman Frankfurt and Matt is at the ironman distance race in Roth. Both the European Champs in Ireland and the ITU Elite race in Hyde Park may require Di to be on ITU Technical Official duty. Dave fancies the Race to the Bill in Portland and the Worthing triathlons. August, at this stage, is pretty low key. Scott & Di will probably be down at Swanage Triathlon doing the race commentary and Dave may be racing at Bedford Triathlon. International team member Javier is working at the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. September sees the long course athletes recover and look to race again. Graham & Tim will be out at the Vitruvian, this is the same weekend as the World Duathlon Champs in Edinburgh so Di may be on ITU duty there. Derric is back to one of his traditional triathlon in Brittas Bay, Dave is looking to the Portland Middle Distance triathlon. Also this month Matt is talking about the New Forest Middle Distance triathlon and Di & Scott are looking to go back to the Weymouth triathlon. One of the few seasons where we haven’t had athletes chasing Team GB slots but it is still a pretty full season with representation at major swim, bike, run, duathlon and triathlon events across Europe. Let’s all have a healthy and fit season. |
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Monday 18th Jan 2010
Wattbike Seminar |
| Di & I had an invitation to go to the Wattbike factory in Nottingham to have a play on the Wattbike and see how it could be used in training. Steve Marshall gave us a quick overview on what could be done in relation to assessing, training and monitoring pedalling efficiency and power output. One of the obvious advantages to me is how you could ascertain your race course optimum power output position and translate the Wattbike set up measurements onto your outdoor bike. Having seen how intuitive it was to use, both in navigating around the on board computer and when it came to data transfer and storage, Steve decided it was time to have a proper play. Now the game plan was a 6 second anaerobic threshold test, similar to a Wingate test; then a “flying 200m” test before finishing off with a ramp test – finish off in more ways than one. However, having done the first 6 second blast it was decided, by others, that now we knew what the test was like we should do it again….. The 200m test is another anaerobic test that lasts about 10-12 seconds; Steve took great delight in telling us how fast Chris Hoy did this test in – whilst wearing jeans and in a field! Needless to say I won’t be challenging Sir Chris’ place come London 2012. The ramp test took a bit of getting used to, although the Wattbike takes 1000s of data points per second it takes about three seconds to process and display these, so trying to be exact around 20 watt increments was a bit of a test in itself. Writing the last paragraph took longer than my test lasted……. So all test done, time to go home? No – Steve decided that we would do a test-retest comparison of our 6 second effort, so off we went again, sprint finish. A good day out, some great info from the guys at Wattbike, a bit of a play on some tech kit – worth the eight hour round trip. For those involved in exercise prescription and assessment, for coaches looking at monitoring progression and setting parameters I would say that it is a great bit of kit. For athletes I would question how many want to do all their training indoors and as a coach I would have to say that if you are going to spend over £1000 on a power measuring device – get one you can put on your own bike. |
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3rd Jan 2010
Somerley 5k |
| Not to be outdone by the team members who raced on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, Di & I went to re-visit the Somerley 5k run race. This is a charity event for the Wessex Autistic Society and seems to be well supported. We did this race for the first time at the end of December 2008 and it had been a bit chaotic with runners starting and finishing at different locations and no official times being recorded for the 5k. This year it was a bit different with both the 10k and the 5k being well organised; officially timed and finishing under the same gantry. A crisp and bright frosty morning greeted us for our run around the Somerley Estate, a pleasant way to round off a sociable week-end. The 5k race started 15 minutes after the 10k event and both were well attended with approximately 400 names on the start list off the 10k and almost 130 finishers in the 5k run. As per normal the gun goes and Di is off into the distance, I started conservatively but quickly realised I may have started a little too far back and I began overtaking other runners almost immediately – not something I normally do!! I occasionally saw glimpses of Di off on the horizon but settled into my own pace and concentrated on running my own race. At one point Lee Piercy came storming past on route to winning the 10k event. Lee clocked 34 minutes for the 10k race. Di took about two and a half minutes off last year’s time, finishing 19th overall and 4th female in 25.53; I came in 33rd overall in 28.36. This is a good sociable event supporting a local charity and worth a run around the estate. |