Wednesday May 18th.
Summer Series, Race 8.
This is a great, if testing, course. The forecast had been rain through the afternoon and evening but it held-off. There was, particularly along the ridge, a cool wind, but, with the ground mainly dry, a good evening for running.
The course starts with 400m flat along the reservoir road before turning right up hill for 3kms. of ascent, some of it challenging. There follows about 4km. which undulates along the top, much of it flagged. Finally there is the descent to the dam, rough and rutted.
Damien took 3rd. place, Vinny, new to me and possibly making his debut, was 31st., Tom, 1st.M60, was 4 seconds behind in 33rd.
Jarrod took the League 2 60-points, ahead of Ivan (another debutant?), Steve, Richard and Diane.
League 3 was tough, on a night when there were some easy points in the other leagues. Gareth won, despite terrain that could not be more different than his canalathon. Next was Christian and then Andy, for whom this may have seemed a little flat. Then came Bernard, Mark (a third debutant?) and Huma, who would have loved the descent. Working hard for minimal points reward were Nicky, Geoff, Andrew, John and Patrick.
James continues to split the League 3 runners leaving the others in League 4 in his wake. Angela and Sally are jousting as the league’s number 2. Gail took another positive step back in her injury recovery programme. This terrain is not Sue’s chosen specialty and Ian, who was last of the 230 runners, was not quite at his best.
A great run from Leanne, who is having an excellent year, took League 5. Next was Julie, who always climbs well. Don, despite his knees, took third over ground on which, a few years ago, he would have excelled. Trevor seems rejuvenated and Sarah likes this sort of stuff.
Ian
Well done all tough but good fun! My calves are still burning 3 days later! Leanne