Dead Runners society race report
23rd Nene Valley 10 mile race,
Peterborough - Sunday 2nd December 2001.
After Abingdon I took it easy
for a while before getting back to hard training. I decided to finish the year
with the Nene Valley 10 in Peterborough and try and end the year with a good
race. I also took the opportunity to run down memory lane the day before the
race.
Evenin all
Tony here again, a busy weekend for the beautiful Shelley and myself.
Yesterday Shelley had the first day of her UK Athletics level 2 coaching course
in Watford (north of London). We awoke yesterday at an unearthly hour to drive
to Watford. In spite of road works and heavy rain we made it on time. I watched
Shelley do the first bit of her course before I got back into the car and drove
off into darkest London to Wimbledon Common.
Regular readers of my DRS posts over the years will know that I spent three
happy years as a PhD student at the finest university in the land here in
Cambridge and also spent a rather unhappy year working at the 2nd best
university in Oxford. Wimbledon Common is the traditional venue (for over 100
years) of the Oxford vs Cambridge XC Varsity match and Saturday was the day of
the BIG RACE. The biggest race of the year for students at the two ancient
universities, it must seem rather irrelevant to non Oxford/Cambridge folks but
as they say up north "it's nowt to do wi' them".
So I survived my drive through the mean streets of western London to arrive at
Wimbledon common. I immediately met up with some old friends from my student
days who had also come down to cheer for the light blue (Cambridge) side.
Before the races started I went out for a little jog, I planned on doing 3
miles but I got a bit lost and ended up doing 4 miles. I arrived just as the
start of the race for former Oxford/Cambridge students, I could have run this
race myself but I wanted to save myself for the Nene Valley 10 (see later). The
old fogies race was won by Don Naylor, the Cambridge captain in my first year
(1995). Don is hoping to run for Wales in the Commonwealth games next year.
Next was the first of the varsity matches, the 26th ladies race. The course is
1 big lap of 4 miles so spectators adopt the "run/wait/cheer" method
to follow the race. This is an interesting if rather tiring way of watching a
race, especially in the very muddy conditions, this was REAL
"tough/stoic/calloused" english XC.
We light blues were happy to see Ellen Leggate win the ladies race for Cambridge,
Ellen's husband Dan had won for Cambridge in the late 90s. Unfortunately Oxford
won the team race :-(
Then it was the turn for the 118th gentlemen's XC varsity match, time for more
"run/wait/cheer" spectating. The men run a 7.5 mile course, I didn't
fancy trying to follow the whole race so I saw the start and then jogged/walked
to the 6.5 mile point. Unfortunately Oxford won both the individual and team
races. By the time I got back to the finish the dark blue (Oxford) celebrations
were in full swing, I said goodbye to my Cambridge friends and then plunged
back into London traffic to get back to Watford in time to take Shelley home.
Today Shelley had to get up early again to drive to Watford for day 2 of her
course. I got to stay in bed for a while before getting ready for my 10 mile
race. This was the Nene Valley 10 mile race in Peterborough, the other big city
in Cambrigeshire about 30 miles north of here. This race had the very civilized
starting time of 1.00pm :-) I had run this race in 1997 and knew it was a good
fast race.
I arrived in plenty of time, conditions were great. Very cold but above
freezing, cloudy and NO WIND. I did an easy mile to warm up before the race,
parts of the course looked a bit tricky with lots of slippery fallen leaves on
the course :-(
10 minutes before the start I peeled off all of my layers, I was going to tough
it out in vest and shorts today in spite of the cold weather, jogged out to the
start. I was rather disappointed not to see anyone else from my club, Cambridge
and Coleridge AC. I haven't run a road race against anyone from my club (apart
from Shelley) since July, my club is not a great one for road running :-(
Bang and off we went, we started with a very short loop around a shopping
centre before starting 2 almost completely traffic free loops on footpaths
through local housing developments. It was rather crowded at the start and
overtaking was tricky, especially in the first mile as runners were trying to
avoid the worst of the slippery fallen leaves, mile 1 in 7.00. I didn't feel
that comfortable, the footpaths were pretty narrow and twisty in places which
made overtaking tricky, 2 miles reached in 14.04/7.04, I was still overtaking
where I could. The course got a bit wider in the next mile and I finally got into
my stride, still passing runners, 3 miles in 20.36/6.32! Next mile went on a
footpath through some woods, this was borderline multiterrain, all the recent
rain and fallen leaves made it a bit slippery in places. I was closing on a big
bunch and I had to pick my moment to pass, 4 miles in 27.49/7.13. Slowed a bit
due to slippery going, by the time we got onto dry land I was feeling a bit
better. 5 miles in 34.37/6.49. By now I had passed most of the big bunch and
had a bit more room to manoevre, pushed on a bit harder as we passed the finish
to start lap 2. As I went past the cheering spectators I had the wonderful
feeling of exhilaration and tiredness that is part of a good race.
The slippery leaves were now no problem as I was fully into race mode as I charged
along, also we were well spread out which helped. At 6 miles I overtook another
runner, 6 miles in 41.22/6.45, tired but moving well. 7 miles in 48.24/7.02 and
now it was getting harder, I passed a couple more runners but just before 8
miles a runner from Bishop's Stortford passed me and gave me a cheer. I tried
to go with him but I didn't last long. Through the woods again, very tired but
still racing. 8 miles in 55.06/6.42, I was hoping to get in under 69 minutes
from here. 9th mile was very hard, passed a couple more runners but I slowed to
1h02.11/7.05, not far to go. A runner in black had the temerity to pass me but
I soon reeled him in and tried to push on harder for the finish, very tired but
nearly there. Soon back to the shopping centre, running in very hard with
someone right behind, I could see the finish clock reading 1h08.5x as I
approached the line but it just turned over to 1h09 and I got outsprinted, over
the line in 1h09.07, 6.56 for last mile. I finished 84th/247.
Very tired on finishing, I congratulated the runners around me and thanked them
for such a good race, the Bishop's Stortford runner gave me a cheer as he was a
former Cambridge and Coleridge runner, before my time though. I was cooling
down rapidly so I got back to the car and got some clothes on asap.
A good race, the weather conditions were ideal but this "fast flat"
course was rather tricky in places with all the twists and turns and slippery
leaves, I am sure if I had gone out harder I would have run a faster time as I
would have have spent less time overtaking. It was like running an XC race on
the road where you have to get out fast on the wide bit before the course
narrows. Still it was my fastest 10 miler of the year, nice to end the year
with a good race. A time of 68.59 would have been nicer though.
bye
tony....
Dr Tony Bell
Milton, Cambridge, England.
Tony@shells.demon.co.uk
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/shelley.walsh9/tonyhome.html
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