Mid week races are now a memory from the summer nearly over but one caught the eye .
An Andy O'Sullivan production to commemorate the 72nd birthday of Dr Ron Hill , coincidentally 40 years since he won the Commonwealth Games in a then world record of 2.09 , in addition to the Boston marathon that year .
Destined to be a fun evening and a decent race , HQ being the Falcon Inn, Littleborough and sandwiches provided free of charge in the pub after .
The course was never going to be a fast one with the first half gradually climbing out of Littleborough towards Rochdale with a shorter but steeper descent to be followed by a further but sharper climb to allow for the final half mile of gradual descent .
Its interesting racing without mile or kilometre markers and gut feel takes over ! Its actually quite refreshing.
The race was predominantly a North Manchester running community affair myself , Nina and Tony aside.
1. Andy Norman 15.34
45. Nick Bishop 19.22
68. Tony Hulme 20.13 ( 1st Male 60)
171. Nina Birch 24.03
221. Ron Hill 25.58
291 runners .
The winner from the Stainland 7 , Martin Firth placed 15th in a time of 17.51.
Full results : http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2010/ronhill.htm
Nick.