Fish of the Day
After the big turnout at Tittesworth even the offer of a fresh trout in the goody bag wasn’t enough to tempt many Wilmslow runners over the hills to Wincle.
The course had been changed this year to start from the new show ground and take in an extra loop round a muddy field to string us out before the stiles and river crossing. The mud was thick cross country stuff which made the slippery paths down to the river crossing even more treacherous. At one point I couldn’t stop for a bridge and narrowly missed a tree.
There must have been many other close shaves but Ray had the only visible injuries – apparently managing to fall up the hill. And Ray had said that there were “no hills of note”. I hope that he noticed the steep one through the woods that resembled the Alderley Edge hill rep.
The woods gave way to a sweep of open moorland and the views opened up over Staffordshire. Paths cut deep into the peat and heather led us to the top of the hill. We descended steeply past Hanging Rock; it didn’t seem quite as slippery now or perhaps I was getting used to it but I opted for the steps rather than attempting a fell racing bound down the hill.
Navigation got tricky at this point as the leaders were well out of sight and the odd scrap of red and white tape provided the only clues. Remarkably quickly we raced back down through the woods crossed the river by the bridge this time and finished down towards the trout farm.
I counted myself lucky to scrape in a few yards in front of Stuart – he seemed to be faster on both the uphill and downhill and there wasn’t too much flat in between. There was another close run in between Mike Cooper and Katie. Mike finding 9K in the hills insufficient challenge these days had elected to run in his new racing flats which must have livened up the descents.
This wasn’t an occasion where Wilmslow picked up all the prizes. The exception was Lulu (the Parrot family Spaniel) who took 3rd in the hotly contested “Dog The Judge Would Most Like To Take Home” category. This was the highlight of the muddy village fete.
And the trout … grilled up very nicely and I ate it for Sunday tea.
6 Rob Downs 3 MV 37.37
7 Stuart Parrot 4 MV 37.44
29 Ray Noble 13 M 43.04
43 Mike Cooper 22 MV 44.58
45 Katy Green 3 F 45.04
163 Trevor Faulkner 64.01
173 finishers. Full results at http://www.ukresults.net/2005/wincle.html.
See photos in continuation…
Rob
Katie and Mike enjoy another trout joke
Rob and Stuart at the finish
Rob finishes