GUN RUN

Tuesday July 15th.

This was the best Group 4 race of the Series, the lead changed more than a dozen times over the course and three times in the last 100m. 
 

There were so many of Group 4/5, I lost track of who finished where. Nina had her best run, even beating the improving Sarah, who’s missing having Trevor to set her pace. Julie was happy with her run. Charlotte had enjoyed herself. Chris was much more competitive than at Bowdon. Huma in her first run of the Series was well placed. The new skinny Stephen was also having his first outing. Anne had another steady run, nursing herself back after her long lay-off. Angela was there again, twice in a week. Someone ought to tell Kasey that you don’t do Roaches and Gun Run as your first two races.  I’m not sure about Roy. It is his least favourite race, I didn’t see him at the end but even before the start he was trying to come to psychological terms with the bevy of female talent all likely to embarrass him.

The first kilometre is hard, I could see Simon Bailey, already some distance ahead, unbelievably taking it as a sprint. In our group Sarah Waite, Penny, Huma, Owen and John were ahead of me. As the gradient eased I was able to move up and by the ‘gun’ only Sarah was ahead. I was a bit disappointed by the ‘gun’, I was expecting something out of the Guns of Navarone but all I could see was a trig. point.

This first sector had been damage limitation, I was better placed than expected, I now had to catch Sarah and build myself a cushion before the dreaded final mile. I past Sarah halfway down and pushed-on. I was a bit surprised when Owen overtook me and even more so, half-a-minute later, as John raced in front of the two of us. At the lake at the bottom it was four Wilmslow vests in succession; Owen, John, Ian, Sarah.

Now climbing a little on a proper track, Sarah went to the front. Then Owen moved through, then John, then Sarah again. I had no feel for how strong the others were, nor for how well I was going to cope with the final mile. I suspect the uphill finish, as Andy said like the end of a stage in the Tour de France, was playing on all our minds. I was now in front of Owen and Sarah was stretching out the gaps between us although we were still in consecutive places.

Finally I thought I recognised where I had finished my warm-up, 1k to go. I picked-up the pace but was mistaken. The same thing happened a second time but then at last we were in the end-game. There was initially a steep section and I had decided in advance it would take too much out of me to push for home until we were up it. I need to talk to someone who understands the physiology of running but I decided to walk this part on the basis that I would not be using the same muscles that I would need for the remaining 500m. John stretched his 3m lead to 6m, Sarah was a further 10m ahead. As the gradient eased I started running again, quickly regaining the lost metres and gaining a momentum to take me past John. I had also closed on Sarah, so I pushed myself to keep going. 100m to go and I caught her, she instantly responded, accelerated and moved 3m ahead. But then she seemed to slow, one last effort and as we turned left and right on the grass I got in front of her.

My first visit to the Gun Run, it’s excellent course, the variety in terrain encourages interchanges in position and our four-way battle, which we all enjoyed, was probably the tightest race in my years with the club. I suspect, however, with the tough first kilometre and the permanent fear of the final mile (it worked for me today but on another occasion I could just as easily ‘die’), it will never be a personal favourite.

Ian Ashcroft