The final race of my plan to achieve a clean sweep of club standard times was a good trek away in Humberside, a ten mile race in the village of Gilberdyke. Unlike Lancaster the week before, where domestic commitments made an overnight stay unworkable, we had the luxury of a work-free Bank Holiday weekend so I located some suitable family entertainment for the Saturday afternoon, booked somewhere to stay along with a place for an evening meal and headed north for a race that would commence at 9:30am on Sunday morning. The afternoon was great fun, Boston Park Farm for those interested, well worth a visit if you are in that area with a young child in tow. The other elements were less satisfying. Our meal was fine apart from my main course which I sent back, something I rarely do and our night’s “sleep” at a Premier Inn was uncomfortably hot to the point where we had to put the fan on and open a window, the resultant noise then keeping us awake rather than the searing temperatures.
Still, we made it to the race next day in one piece, maybe a little bit crochety, but hey. The sun was out but the early start meant that it was unlikely to be too detrimental to fast times and the heat wave from earlier in the month had now gone. The race was a wonderful affair. Really well organised, sold out, superb value for money and quite possibly the flattest event I can remember doing. My Garmin measured 38 feet of elevation and I reckon most of that was used up in crossing the railway via a road bridge twice on the course. The roads were all closed to traffic and took you through nine miles worth of farm lanes which wasn’t unpleasant but ultimately quite samey, before returning to the village where the race began. I set off aiming to run at 5:52 pace for the duration. I banked ten seconds on the first mile despite almost taking what would have been an awful tumble early on. A runner in front of me hopped onto the pavement to take the racing line and find more space so at the last moment, I decided to follow him having earlier decided not to. My foot landed on the kerb half on half off and how I didn’t go down, I will never know. I must have put about four strides in with my nose touching the tarmac but somehow I stayed on my feet. Marshals and runners asked after my welfare, I was embarrassed more than anything!
The second mile was bang on the money which was a worry and then by mile four, I had eaten up all of my banked “reserve” time so would need to marginally up the pace when energy was dissipating to reach my goal time of 58:40. (That was my personal best, the time required for the standard was 63:26 so that was still safe.) The race was of a good standard, there were some very fast runners out, but fast runners often chase fast races and this had all the hallmarks of being quick looking at the gradient and previous results. After seven miles I needed to claw back 15 seconds of time, not an insurmountable challenge with a brave final push but I didn’t have it in me to keep pace for miles 8 and 9, moreover, I dropped down a touch having settled for something decent rather than exceptional. I think a combination of the races leading up to this one, particularly the 20 miler the week before, had taken quite a bit out of me physically, but also mentally, I found it hard to find that highest level of motivation you require for being your absolute best.
Anyway, the standard times were done. An annual goal achieved, this time with the unique distinction of having managed every single distance at the top level rather than cherry picking the most favourable or achievable targets. I’m not sure I would try and do it again. I’d need another very good marathon attempt to see me right and I’m not overly keen to try at the time of writing. If I want some kind of longevity in the sport, I reckon limiting the longer events will help me in that aim.
On to Rotherby. More yoga but no more runs between races. I almost went out on Thursday night but the opportunity didn’t really present itself and I ended up sleeping at my parents house while they were away given that a large group of travellers had taken camp at the school right next door to where they live. I had a midweek massage and felt pretty fresh going into the event. The situation was simple. We had to beat our nearest rivals OWLS to win the league. Looking at the entry lists, they had five quality runners in plus a couple of unknown quantities. We pulled everyone in. Dave Hill ditched his place at the Wrexham half to be part of the side. Matt Scarsbrook was on the cusp of major individual honours in the league and Ash Baldwin joined us as second claim from Tamworth, reciprocating my arrangement only later in the season. Danny Warren had grafted like mad to get race fit and his race weight down. Dave McGowan was in, Preecey too and Neil Russell had been tempted out of self-imposed exile for another crack at the title! Even Coxy and Payney entered, both potential scorers for us although possibly still fatigued after their epic Alpine adventures. The only missing jigsaw piece was Glyn who understandably opted for Wrexham as he felt we already had sufficient firepower. Unlike when we had to take on Hermitage in 2018, our runners were all in good form. Maybe not tip top but pretty good. Four years ago, we had our fastest guys out but not all were fully firing for various, fully understandable reasons. It was hard to know just who our top six would be. I felt Matt, Dave and Ash would feature and after that you could take any three from half a dozen depending on the day. It was great for us as we had depth and back up in case of withdrawals, injuries or other issues. I matched both sides up and concluded it would be a close encounter. Owls didn’t seem to have the depth of squad we had so any late withdrawals would hit them hard, unless they had runners we weren’t aware of.
I was also in contention for second place in the league V45 individual standings. Irrespective of the Rotherby outcome, I would finish either second or third. I had to beat Richard Wayman from OWLS, a tough ask as he is proper quality but we had both had the better of each other over the season, never by much. He had form on his side having beaten me at the preceding race. The team outcome was of far greater importance however. Had I been on for a win, it may have been different but second or third doesn’t really matter as much as you’re not the winner! If I could use it as motivation, then great but it wasn’t a big deal. With the race results being taken on chip time rather than gun time, I opted to start from deep in the mix, to give myself protection in the event of being edged out of a sprint finish for a place (I would have a few extra seconds grace over my opponent if it came to it). As the runners lined up for the race brief, I glanced across and saw Danny to my right, obviously with the exact same thought as me. We laughed at each other but in a way it showed how desperate we both were for our team to win. As it materialised, it made no difference to me in the end as there were reasonable time gaps both in front and behind me on the home straight.
The race began and I felt excited and relieved to be going after dwelling on the possibilities for days prior. My first two miles were meant to be conservative but I was probably a bit quicker than I needed to be. Aside from Matt and Mo Hussein who went off like 400 metre runners (and carried it on to the finish!), the rest of the field seemed a bit more measured in their approach. There were black and white vests everywhere, us and OWLS. As it was the last race of the season, it was conceivable that those with nothing to play for or contend would be missing in action, which in turn could make the gaps or differentials between the teams more slight. My pace dropped to accommodate the big climb on mile four but at the top of the hill, despite feeling good, I began to lose touch with Wayman who I had followed closely up to this point. Ryan Preece and Lee O’Connor went by me and Jamie Strange from Huncote too, who was now making a habit of overtaking me in the final third of many of these road races! I wasn’t going backwards, the run to the finish is a gentle downhill in the main and I felt confident enough that I wouldn’t ship any more places while being unable to move any further through the field as those ahead of me were not faltering at all.
I finished 16th male (17th overall as GB star Gemma Steel was up top) in 47:14, exactly one second quicker than 2021! The standard was definitely higher this time round at the top end. Last time I was top ten and first vet, now there were five other old blokes in front of me! From my limited vantage point, OWLS had five of their six scorers home with just three of ours, although Ryan and I would soon make that five all. With the place gaps between runners likely to be small, it would all come down to the last man. For us, we didn’t have to wait long at all as Danny finished ten seconds after me. As I try not to look over my shoulder these days, I wasn’t aware how close he was but pleased for him all the same as I know how desperately he would have wanted to be part of the winning team if we could pull it off. He fully deserved his place in the top six. Neil Russell was right behind him and Dave McGowan and Sam Starkey too and while they didn’t score, their presence would invariably knock the last OWLS scorer further down the rankings. When their last runner finished, we were well clear. Danny’s mum was poised with pen and clipboard counting the team’s scorers home and we had won by a much larger margin than in 2018, despite having the disadvantage of only six runners to count as opposed to eight.
Matt was beaten into second place which was a shame for him but Ash took third so we had 67% of the podium and I would be trying to help Ash win another league title, this time for Tamworth, in a fortnight’s time. The vet men team ended Huncote’s 100% record and would finish second in their league and I would have an individual award to go alongside the men’s senior team champions gong, so all in all a great day.
I had two more races in successive weekends straight after. The Nuneaton 10K, where I had hoped i would run a personal best earlier in the summer followed by the Tamworth 5 where we needed to edge South Derbyshire Road Runners out to take what would be the club’s first BDSL league title in over a decade. I was pretty confident our team would be good enough to do this and I was relatively indifferent about Nuneaton now as I felt a sub 35 time was unrealistic given my form and fitness so the pressure was definitely off.
Chris Hortons Marathon Journey 