Dunham Massey reverse 5k

Summer Series, race 8
Thursday June 13th.

The word is that Dunham reverse, now commonly nicknamed downhill, is 10 seconds faster than Dunham 1. Having run 18 seconds slower, I hoped a bit of statistical analysis would expose this as a myth. However, the opposite was true – if you run the course in 15 minutes it is 10 seconds faster, for someone running at 22 minutes the advantage goes out to 14 seconds.

Whilst we ran Dunham 1 in the Spring, Dunham reverse takes place in the monsoon season, although we had a temporary pause in the rain itself and with little wind and the off-road section absorbing the earlier downpours, the conditions for running were near-perfect. This produced a rash of PBs – don’t be modest use the Comment section below to tell us about yours.

Claire was our stand-out performer. She had won Dunham 1 but, as she lined-up on the front row , a rival female with Olympic on her vest lined-up beside her. Claire was not psyched-out, she produced a PB, but she did have to settle for second place.

Andrew in 16th. place was the only Wilmslow runner ahead of Claire. Mike was 28th., Gareth 29th., 3 seconds behind came Richard Harrison, 33rd., then James 36th., Robin 38th. and, two seconds behind, Jarrod 40th., Graham 48th.,Nicola 56th., Richard Lawson 62nd., Stacey, on her club debut, 64th., Paul Garnett 74th., Paul Norris 76th. and Louisa 81st.

Nicola won F35, Mike M50 and Paul M60. I may have missed some of you, please shout.

Nicola was 9th. lady, Stacey 12th. and Louisa 16th.

Matt has been out for over a year, his re-appearance was more an opportunity to engage in the atmosphere and camaraderie than a serious comeback, but nevertheless good to see him racing again.

Best tussle was Mark, Kate and Colin within 7 seconds.

Colin Caisley was first home in League 2 followed by Laura and, league leader, Colin Walton.

The top five in League 3 were all competing but finished in a very different order. Mark was the winner on the day, followed by Kate, Ian, Alan, Angela, Kathryn, then Huma, squeezed out by a second by Catriona, and Catherine. John is slowly making progress in his recovery from a recurrent collapsed lung, I can feel him breathing down my neck.

We have not seen much of Huma this year, I was aware she was training for a snowy marathon. I know this cannot be right but, as I recall, the marathon was to the North Pole but was prevented from taking place by Russian bullying of Ukraine. Huma, however, still completed a substitute marathon within the Arctic Circle, in which she lost seven toe nails. If you feel this sounds as unlikely as Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy, then Huma can give you the proper version.

Emily, who beat 4 of League 3, may prove too strong for League 4 where she made it 2 wins out of 2. Ian’s failure to match his pace in Durham cost him the M70 prize. Roy, despite his best efforts, is stuck in a rut.

Ian