Race Report by Michael Hammond
Who would have thought that a ‘Donkey Derby ‘at The Memorial Park would bring about such an exodus of Coventry Massey runners to the foggy depths of Daventry for their Park Run.?
Alison Clark posted a message asking if anyone was up for a lift to Daventry and myself and James Padvis took up the offer , meeting in ‘The Pilot Pub’ car park at 8am.
The run takes place around Daventry Country Park, and we arrived with about five minutes to spare !
It is a much smaller event than Coventry (with about 200 attending) and the lady speaking over the mega phone seemed rather abrupt, and needed some training in her megaphone technique , as she was almost impossible to hear. There was a separate briefing for people new to the run, which was attended by a couple of people from the USA !
The start was quite congested and the route was all within the Country park over a track that was only about four runners wide. There were wooden bridges to run over, and it was a shame that the mist meant we couldn’t really see the views which I am sure would have been lovely. Stewards were well placed and encouraging.
A combination of having to concentrate that little bit more as I didn’t know the route and the fact that it was over uneven ground, and my determination not to stop meant that I achieved a PB ; knocking 5 seconds off by best coventry time in 00:30:34.
A well deserved hot chocolate in a really nice little café situated in the bike shop (those bikes are expensive !) and a visit to the toilet in Homebase after remembering I hadn’t had time to go before the race …(maybe another reason I was so quick) and we were off back to Coventry.
Being so close to the Coventry Runner shop, I popped in to get the lowdown on how my running shoes are doing .I bought them in December.. and realised they have worn right down. Another pair a half size larger were purchased (Brooks Vapor 4) .. 8 months wear isn’t bad ..20% off for being a Masseys’ member and a free T-shirt will be waiting for me when they get my size in !