Draycote Water 10 mile 08.03.15

Having done a 3 lap training run round Draycote Water 2 weeks ago in preparation for Coventry Half Marathon I decided to enter this race late last week.  The course was a 2 lap loop plus a little bit extra to make up for the fact that each loop was only 4.7 miles.

After picking up my race number I decided to make my way to the start line which was a short jog from the club house/visitor centre.  I did notice that it was a bit windy along this stretch of the course and we would have to run this  bit 3 times in the run before we ended up at the finish.

My Garmin said the start time was 9:50am (we were due to start at 9:45am), about a minute later I crossed the start line and clicked on my Garmin.  It was a slow drag up to the club house/visitor centre where we turned sharp right and up the first incline – nothing like the hill at Ilmington BUT this was at the start of the run and I had started off a bit too fast.  ‘Dig in and lean forward’ I heard a Massey supporter shout.  At least I knew we would have downhills to recover on the route but I also knew there was another incline with a sharp right turn just past the pumping station.

Part way round the course on the first lap I saw a sign that said 8 miles – and boy did I wish it was!  Another runner commented that it was a bit sadistic putting those signs up that early in the run and we ran together for a while until we reached another sign that said 9 miles (although were still on the first lap) and he managed to stride ahead of me.  I could see runners ahead of me on the other side of the water and knew we were coming along the back straight where were had started the run from.  It was a hard slog with the wind in my face but was nice to see the Massey supporters on the bank as I finished the first lap.  Now to do it all again!

I had definitely started off too quickly (which I always tend to do) as I felt like I was plodding for the 2nd lap.  I was pleased to see the 8 mile sign again and knew it wasn’t too far so tried to step it up a bit,  I passed 2 runners I had had in my sight for a while and was glad that I had the energy to overtake them.  Just after miile 9 and the windy back straight was round the bend.  I tried to go a bit faster as I could see my Garmin was at 1:21 – I’d set myself a target of 1:25.

The female runner I had passed earlier came up by the side of me and thanked me for being a good pace setter and we shook hands as we ran.  I didn’t have anything left for a fast finish and encouraged her to run on.  My Garmin time was 1:25:41 – official chip time 1:25:43 – so not a bad effort for my first official 10-miler.  A great technical T.shirt, medal, snacks, juice and water in the goody bag.

As always the Massey runners who had already finished waited for their fellow runners to come in and cheered them on.

Would I do it again? Most probably!

Full results below:

Pos FirstName LastName

Net Time

Category

Categ Pos

Gender Pos

6

Peter Paprcka

01:06:31

Senior

2

3

54

Dominic Lenehan

01:20:49

V60+

1

36

58

Richard Sale

01:22:03

Senior

16

38

74

Cathy Mckeown

01:25:43

LV50

2

20

79

Stuart Liggins

01:26:36

Senior

22

52

98

Cathy Keay

01:30:57

LV40

10

32

119

Anna Towey

01:38:58

Lady

25

48

131

Mary Connolly

01:43:35

LV40

20

57

144

David Goodwin

01:47:19

Senior

28

71

145

Daniel Connolly

01:47:49

Senior

29

72

148

Tiffannie Slatford

01:48:27

Lady

36

70

154

Anne-Marie Paszkiewicz

01:54:55

Lady

41

75

158

Ali Virgo

01:57:36

LV50

8

78

159

Emma Cutting

02:08:32

LV40

26

79

160

Jane Damms

02:08:32

LV40

27

80

161

Kelli Boyde

02:24:10

Lady

44

81

Race report by Cathy McKeown