6th September 2008
Come Hill or High Water …
I arrived to set up the course and parked in the usual place. I was just about to point out the start area to my brother when I noticed that it just wasn't there any more…
The river had overflowed and a deep, brown lagoon covered the finishing straight and surrounding area. A quick dash round the course revealed that the rest of the course was soggy but runnable. Creeping along the edge of the river I paced out the distance lost and, with Trevor looking on, carefully added this to the new start line on the corner. The result was another 150m up the hill and a rather scenic position for the gazebo under a big oak tree with the hall in the background. Clare set about redesigning the finish area while the race got underway on time.
After this excitement it was business as usual with the evergreen Malcolm Fowler loving the mud and skipping through the puddles to win comfortably on the slightly longer course. All Wilmslow runners won their age categories except Mike who was after all up against stiff competition. It was great to see Sally out and running well. Trevor regained his V65 course record which had been lost to an opportunist MDOC veteran in the perfect conditions of the previous week.
This week's international was Jess Coulson of Stockport Harriers who competed at the junior world cross in Kenya in 2007. In our somewhat damper conditions she won the ladies race in 18:31.
1 Malcolm Fowler 17:09
2 Rob Downs 17:20
8 Mike Cooper 19:14
20 Geoff Gilbert 20:47
27 Sally Gilliver 21:56
62 Trevor Faulkner 25:48
113 finished 5k
Full results, photos, report at www.bramhall.parkrun.com
Every Saturday 9am – just turn up and have a go!