Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny for the Gawsworth 10k.
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Summer series points grab ?
The fun of a multi-terrain 10k?
Cash rewards in a brown envelope?
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All things seemed possible as we stood on the start line smiling for the Cheshire Life photographer.
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Sir Nicholas bellowed Go! and we were off. As we left the field Mike Halman quickly formed a leading group with Tarus Elly (Salford) and Tim Egerton (Trafford). As a couple of early sprinters faded I followed in 5th a respectful 50m behind the leaders
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Bill (watching from his police car) couldn’t believe how slow we were running and how knackered we looked after 1k but by now it was feeling rather hot in the sun.
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My legs were still rather stiff from Beast exploits last weekend. With Jim and Tom in good form I knew that I had to quickly build a sufficient lead. If I could just get far enough ahead they could race each other and I could avoid any hand-to-hand combat in the last few hundred metres. Raising the pace, I tried to push out along the roads clawing past a Sale runner into 4th position. Mike & co. remained not far ahead but I knew that they were running cagily and I found it difficult to judge an even pace off them.
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As we approached the canal I heard footsteps behind and glanced round to see Jim right on my shoulder and Tom tucked in behind him. Hmmm this wasn’t going to plan. The next moment they both accelerated past me on the steep down hill. In the leading group a similar ambush on this hill moments earlier had knocked Mike back into 3rd place.
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I had no plan B so I could only try plan A again. Once settled on the towpath I tried again to establish a lead but again Tom and Jim tucked in gratefully behind their pacemaker. Bemused boaters quickly shifted their dogs and breakfast things out of the way as we chased along the canal. The sun filtered through the trees; it was all rather picturesque.
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At the railway bridge I still had no lead and I’m rubbish on steps and stiles (can we practice them on a Tuesday night?). Seizing his opportunity Jim 3-stepped it up and down, hurdled the stile and broke away cleanly as Tom and I floundered on the fence. The footpath across the moss is probably the best part of the route and my legs began to lighten as we skipped along through the trees. We were still in contact with Jim over the cow fields but at every stile he undid any gains I made to maintain his 30m lead.
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Back on the road I was running more smoothly now and gradually Jim came back towards me. I squeaked past yet again. Turning onto the fields for the final time I was suddenly overtaken by the Sale runner who having faded earlier on now surged past me. I dug deep and chased him up and over the final hill. Flying past the 10k marker I was closing on him but he just managed to cling on by a yard as we ran up to the finish. Jim, Tom and Graham were right behind, the start of a torrent of blue and gold, as Wilmslow took half the top 20 places.
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Jane won 2nd lady while Tom was first vet for the second year running.
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Further down the field there were some great tussles for crucial series points with a resurgent Rob Dunkley being followed in by Julie, Trevor and Penny in close formation. Roy lost out to Simon in a photo finish.
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All in all a great race and the organisers had done a great job coping with the increased numbers of fun runners who seemed to be all having a great time.
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Rob
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Full results at www.gawsworth.com and plenty of photos. I couldn’t resist this one of Tom.
