Nick’s report is as timely and comprehensive as usual. The field for the start/finish lacks any shelter and the wind chill made it feel more like 0.9 degrees C than 9. We looked enviously at the teams with tents – but then who has to put it up and take it down??
Getting the team together is always fun(!). Penny relapsing with her virus meant that on Tuesday we were suddenly a vet short. Nicky also had an extremely tight schedule coming from open day at school. Fortunately Kate A needed a break from studying and Huma survived racing Saturday at Teggs Nose,the first of one of Tony’s training sessions on Tuesday and was able to join us.
Nicky was the first to ring for directions – I’d come clockwise round the M60 so couldn’t really help but Roy was able to having taken the same route. Clare and I went to warm-up whilst he skilfully navigated her in.Huma arrived to start attacking her shoes with a knife – getting rid of dried-on mud from previous seasons – thought I’d missed a new warm-up trick!
Julie’s distress call came as the 5 min gun went off so I "delegated" getting her to BHC to Nick. In the end she only arrived 20mins into our race but was as gracious as ever cheering us then the men on.
The race was a mere 2 laps for us – Clare ran a strong race to finish 11th in her new spikes – pristine white at the start but not by the end. I managed to stick with Kate A until the last 1/2 lap when she pulled away. Nicky came in after me followed in quick succession by Sally P,Huma then Amanda.
The post – race analysis was why do we do this? Certainly cheering the men on it was good to see the effort they put in – for 3 laps too. The ladies team is growing in strength with Huma and Amanda running for team Wilmslow for the first time. So come to St Helen’s in 2 weeks time on Sunday the 2nd Decemeber. Directions and car-shares to be arranged…