Malcolm, Sue and I made the hallowed trip to Nottingham's Wollaton Park to mix it with the country's best at the Inter Counties. To those who don't know, the event involves each county in the UK sending 9 of their best athletes, so just to get picked is a real honour.
The atmosphere at the event was fantastic and when you were warming up in your pen you were certainly made to feel – albeit briefly – an elite athlete!
Malcolm and I have had some very close battles over the country this season (with him always winning)but on this occasion the dry, fast course really suited me and after taking him on the 2nd lap out of four I was able to hang on for a 15 second victory. I was 6th Cheshire counter and Cheshire came a very creditable 14th.
We only saw Sue (who was running for Cumbria)briefly as her race was much earlier than ours, but her words were along the lines of 'that was xxx tough'!
By the way the event was on Sky Sports and you do see Malc and I coming in at the end – long after the winners! I'll do a more in-depth report on the day for the newsletter, but here are the results…
Men:
1: Andy Vernon, Hampshire 37.23
212: Jim Pendrill 44.04
222: Malcolm Fowler 44.19
Women:
1: Steph Twell, Hampshire 28.15
239: Sue Hoole, Cumbria 36.30
Full results at:
http://www.athleticsdata.com/resultsfiles/2009/18579_ICResults.xls
Jim