Thursday 15 July 2010

6th Place at Haigh Hall 4 Mile Hill Race

Doctor Simon saves the day at Haigh Hall
http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/towns/haigh-3669.jpg
Simon kindly gave Tracey, new club runner Rob Cosgrove, new kid on the block Steve Lewis and myself a lift to the Haigh Hall race at Wigan.

Driving through a tropical rain storm we were glad to be in Simon's trusty Volvo as we hit flood water over the top of Parbold, the cars ahead came to a dead stop as the road turned to a river and a tidal wave of water splashed across the road as cars on the other side of the road floated by!
we survived and made it to race HQ for 7 pm to find few cars in the car park and as we signed in race organizer Paul Carrol told how half an hour before he'd been thinking of cancelling the race due to the torrential downpour.

We trekked down to the start at the bottom of the Forest, the drops of rain falling off the trees was a nice relief from the humid conditions.
55 brave souls set off up the 1 1/4 mile climb, I found myself just behind the lead pack until we hit the 'wall' after only a few mins, I pumped my arms and legs in a vain hope of overcoming gravity!
The thought of why I wanted to put myself through more 'hurt' than the entire England team put the football fans through crossed my mind, for but a fleeting moment!
Close behind Tracey had set off fast, maybe her resent track racing had changed her perception of pace, but latter on she would pay the price!!
Simon thankfully not wearing his latex shorts [ after being banned from wearing them by his wife and Daughter] overtook Tracey wearing instead a mask of pain, he was followed by a smiling fresh faced steve and Rob who has only been running for 7 months.
Close to the top of the climb I overtook 2 runners which moved me up to 6 th place.
I now spent the rest of the race in no man's land as the lead group pulled away and at the same time I pulled away from the group behind me!
Simon battled hard to hold off 1st Lady Mary Aguera [who had a very shapely pair of legs I must say!] and a fast finishing Steve Lewis.
I finish in 6th place but 20 sec slower than last time, Simon by now wearing a full mask of pain wildly thrusts across the line in 17th place and 26.11, Steve looking like he was just out for a jog finishes in 21st 26.30, Tracey sprints in looking very red faced and worn out, thinking she'd done a P.B. [ due to her Garmin malfunctioning] I give her the bad news that she'd run 27.28 and not 26 mins, still a good run with 29th and 2nd lady. Rob in his first 4 mile race in club colours just missed breaking 30 mins with 30.55 47th place.
UPDATE; Opps! Sorry missed Phil Baxendale off the report who finished first V 60 with a time of 29.26 and 40th place.
At the prize giving Tracey, Simon Phil and myself all received prizes from Paul Carrol and much thanks have to go out to him and his crew for organizing such a great event once more!
RESULTS




Marathon Talk podcast on How to run a good 10k


RUBBISH 5K NEXT RACE 21st July LINK


BAREFOOT RUNNING FOR HEALTH LINK


Roy Benson; How your arm carriage affects your footstrike LINK


6 comments:

Ewen said...

That was an adventure Rick - more excitement getting to the start than racing! You can't beat a Volvo (unless you're a motorcyclist). Glad your mate's been banned from the latex shorts.

By the way, our Aussie football team put us through more pain than your team did!

Scott McMurtrey said...

Sounds like too much fun.

But no one was wearing the liquid mountaineering shoes?

RICK'S RUNNING said...

Oh, you guy's are way 2 funny :]
Yes Ewen Volvo's and bikes do not mix well and latex shorts are a No-No!
Scott thankfully the paths we raced on were not to bad, but a few cars on the way down could have done with Liquid Engineering to keep the wet out of there electrics!

Grellan said...

Shapely legs never hurt anyone and are a welcome distraction from the pain of racing.

Well done on your 6th spot - you seem to be surrounded by hills in your training and racing.

RICK'S RUNNING said...

Grellan if only Mary Aguara would post me her photo you to could marvel at her wonderess 'legs' :]
Yes I'm heading for the hills as much as poss to get ready for the hardest road marathon in Britain 5000ft of climbing!!!

Samurai Running said...

Good one Rick. I heard from someone, somewhere who lived near Steve Prefontaine. They said they never saw him training on the flat, every time he was running around home it was always up hills!