Having just got back from London ,it may be best to pen this article before hitting the red wine.
Delighted to announce that with the exception of Malcolm’s injury and Mike’s trip to Spain that our numbers held firm at six , so we had a full team.The last time that we ran the National’s two years ago in Leeds , we only had five runners ( Tom, Mike, Bill, Stuart and Nick) thus could not get a team position.This year with six to count , everyone had a real purpose.
The journey down soon passed as a certain amount of nostalgia filled the conversation , allowances should be made when the combined ages of the four passengers total more than 210 years . The names of revered Internationals from yesteryear were rolling off the tongues as examples of heroes who had graced this event were discussed and compared. The biggest mass quality event in the UK was one description.
We were soon parked on ‘billionaires row’ in leafy Hampstead Heath and not a public loo in sight.
With time to spare the atmosphere was to be enjoyed as we watched some earlier races and then met up with Colin , Mike and Sally. The course was 7.5 miles and was hilly/undulating which was interesting given that we were only five miles from central London.Trevor suggested 600 feet of ascent and that it looked more like a fell race !
We cheered Sally on and I was becoming a little concerned as the ‘elite ladies’ looked like they were finding the going tough.It looked more hill than undulating to me !
The views over London were awesome , a fantastic panorama , probably the best viewing point for seeing the City of London that you could find.No wonder the heath was favoured by MP’s and celebs after dusk !Enjoy the views because once the race is away , the view will be furthest from your mind .
Well over 1300 started the mens race and the first 600 metres became a mad dash uphill , a sharp right and then some descent followed by a further three miles of up and down before starting lap two. Great course and great conditions : a chill 5′ but once away you soon warmed up. The course was over two laps but twisted , turned and snaked all over the heath . Good views of the race unfolding could be seen. Andy Jones from Salford was in the lead group but eventually the Northern Champion failed to make the top 10.
Everyone of our runners agreed that the course was a testing one but still very enjoyable. We all had our own personal thoughts of our individual performances , but one thing was agreed , we were there , and some event it was !! In total 3364 runners completed the various races on the day.
Well done to everyone that ran , committing to a full day out ( 7.30am to 9.30pm ) is a chunk of the weekend gone , but we had enjoyed a day of banter in the car , watching some stars of the future in junior races (likely Olympians in four years), ran with some stars of today and recognised some stars of yesteryear. The views of London were worth the journey.
We finished 56th out of 99 teams and there were many that had incomplete teams after that .
186. Mike Halman
280. Tom McGaff
431. Colin Fray
624. Ray Eagles
688. Nick Bishop
1240. Trevor Faulkner
Finishers totalled 1290 .
The winning team were Leeds City with Salford second and Altrincham third.
So the XC season is now over and with Spring around the corner and light nights ahead , here’s to some warm weather and we can leave the sloppy brown stuff until next Winter.
Nick.