Dead Runners society race report
Yesterday there was a cross-country league race in Liverpool in
which the striders were going to compete and as I was around Shelley and I went
to run again. I ran for the striders and Shelley ran as a guest, I hadn't run in
this league since I left Warrington for Cambridge so it was nice to be back. I'd
run on this course at Clarke Gardens quite a few times before in the early 90s
when it was usually about 4 miles, the course had been
extended since then
and was now about 5 miles.
I jogged for about 10 minutes before the
race then it was on with my striders vest to line up. Met up with my old
eurodead pal Mike Hoyland at the start, Mike was complaining of severe
unfitness, any excuse eh? :-) A nice sunny day for the race but there was a
strong wind blowing.
The race started and off we charged across the
field, felt a bit uncomfortable for the first couple of minutes, Mike was just
ahead but after 2 minutes I started to work my way through and I caught and
passed Mike after 4 minutes just before the end of the little lap. Kept working
my way through to the end of the first mile before my position came
to
equilibrium and I watched a bunch containing some clubmates just ahead for
the rest of the race. There were some muddy and twisty bits towards the end of
the first big lap, lost a couple of places towards the end of the lap and felt
quite tired after the uphill finish to the lap. Off I went across the start
field for the 2nd and final big lap. I was chasing after
Caroline, one of my
female clubmates but she wasn't coming back. I got within about 15 metres of
here after a slight uphill but she got away through the muddy/twisty bits. With
a mile to go I could see and hear a Liverpool Running Club runner catching me so
I pushed on harder. On the uphill before the finish someone called out to
Liverpool to "catch this
one up" but I ran harder up the hill to hold him off
and I was flat out at the end of the race just behind Caroline.
Rather
tired on finishing, I was 66th man to finish, 5 miles in 33.48, Caroline got 2nd
place in the ladies race, her father was the next Striders runner to finish
behind me in 68th place. Mike finished about 3 minutes behind me in 94th, I've
beaten Mike on the roads a few times but never before in XC! Hope you are soon
fit again Mike so I can beat you properly :-) Shelley finished in just under 40
minutes, as a guest she didn't get a finishers ticket but she was just ahead of
one of my clubmates who was 27th lady. 126 men and 57 ladies finished, this was
my best ever position in this league, almost in the top half of the men's race,
I used to finish about 2/3 of the way down the field, a good race, looks like
I'm getting fit again. Encouraging for Boston in 8 weeks time although I'll know
more about my state of fitness after the Bury 20 mile race next
sunday.
After the race we all went off to a sports/social club for some
food and drink and to announce the results. Spectrum were 2nd team in both the
men's and ladies races. Mike's club (Warrington Road Runners) finished a lot
further down the field, Mike said at least his club have better running kit (red
and blue vests) than the all black of the striders! A
good morning out and a
chance to race against people I've not raced against for a long
time.
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