Summer Series, race 3
Wednesday April 12th.
Another highly successful day for Team Wilmslow. Di, as is her want, took the glory, first lady. Barry, Trevor (Morris) and Mick won their respective categories. Tom, Janine, Paul (Norris) and Ian were second. Tony third.
A glorious weekend had become a wet Wednesday. By evening the rain had stopped, but there was a blustery wind, a coolish Spring day for a pleasant romp through the Cheshire countryside.
My first encounter was Trevor laden with bags. He had taken the train from Brentford, a taxi from Chester, now he needed a car into which to dump his considerable baggage, he was also edging towards the time limit for registration. Such enthusiasm deserves success.
The Spring 5 course suits me. The first two miles downhill gets the legs flowing and I can then dig-in for climb back, perhaps I exaggerate, the gradient is fairly gentle.
Barry was Wilmslow runner of the day and took the 60 points in League 1. He was followed by Diane, Trevor, Tom, Jarrod and Tim.
Tim’s consistency takes him to the top of League 1.
Janine was our second lady, Bygrave our second Di, followed by our first and second Sallies.
Mick defied the years, five seconds in front of Tim and leading League 2. Second was Janine with the Pauls slotting into third and fourth. Di was next, ahead of Tony.
Paul Garnett will retain league leadership with Paul Norris moving up into second place.
Sally Price’s improvement continues, three races, three firsts in League 3. Mark also had an excellent run (he and Colin were given the same time in the finish of the day) and will move up to second in the table. Then Sally Gilliver – short, flatish, road race, what was she doing here? John then led-in Catriona, whose surge of pace last year made her coach’s choice for promotion.
Colin also made it three races, three wins. He beat four of League 3 and, provided he maintains his commitment, may prove too strong for the rest of League 4 with the possible exception of Rachael. Sharon had a fallow 2016 after trying to run London when injured. She maintained her race management strategy; start with a sprint over the first two miles and then take a rest in the middle. Jan, who is running well, pursued her but never quite got there. On a longer, hillier course Julie would beat Ian, but this was more to his liking. Sue did remarkably well given that resting after her toe operation has taken the mileage out of her legs. They quoted age-adjusted times, Simon and I were identical, Trevor is further down the same curve of decline.
Chris’ inclusion in the results was an error, he handed his number back and it was re-allocated to a non-Wilmslow runner.
Ian