This was the sixth race in the 2016/17 Wiltshire off-road race league. Four club members ran: Alison Graham, Chris Hunt, Paul Scotford and Stewart Unsworth – and came over the finish line in alphabetical order! Alison and Stewart were only half recovered from torn muscle injuries, and Chris hadn’t run for ages (but had done a lot of cycling!) so it was all down to Paul who had valiantly turned up to boost CRC points in the team placements in the league. The terrain was undulating and seasonally squelchy. Not particularly daunting, with mist obscuring what would have been fine views. The only challenging section was ‘Lungbuster Hill’, comparable to the Sting (Slaughterford 9). Everyone walked up it. Jellybabies were on hand. I took this race steady, concentrated on what my injury was telling me, and with that to focus on, didn’t notice the miles fly by. I didn’t take off at a silly pace at the start, and felt fresh at the end. It felt more like a weekend steady run, with a time to match. I had to do this run to make sure I scored points in the league. There was one exciting bit at the end. I had gradually closed down on another vf50 (who usually thrashes me), and surmised – correctly – that she also was coming back from injury. We ran neck and neck for the last km. With the finish gantry in sight, I had to pick the moment to break away and sprint. I fully expected to see her flash past, but I beat her by a scary two seconds.
Well done to all CRC members. A good, well marshalled race.