Race report by Dave Phillips.
An early start for me as drove to the finish and caught one of the 2 double decker busses to the start at 0830. Good value for an extra £2.
Well they don’t come much muddier, wetter, colder, dirtier than this. So the start for the 500 runners was on the Greenway at Burton Green and 24 Red and Whites joined in the fun. Hmm what fun?? Apparently 700 had entered and it was full. Strange.
The start was OK on the old railway track and soon we passed where we had our last summer handicap so not too many problems (at least I didn’t fall over this time). Then just before Kenilworth we crossed a footbridge and many of us thought the end of the world was coming. The bridge shook and wobbled (unknown to us) we all thought we were suffering from vertigo or too much from the night before but when we were back on the trail all was OK but it was most unsettling.
Then onto the Abbey Fields and all hell started. Mud, water, streams, puddles, slippery grass, everything you don’t often see, Reminded me of sections on Man V Horse marathon in mid Wales which is all on this sort of terrain + hills of course.
It was almost impossible to run so “slipping and a sliding” was the order of the day. And to think I’ve been running round the Abbey Fields most lunchtimes from my Kenilworth Office for more than 40 years now but this was the worst ever.
At last we were soon off these fields and by the Leisure Centre where it was much worse on the tracks than over the Abbey Fields. At one small kissing gate the ambulance man was trying to get his bike through vertically (horizontally was impossible) but it was stuck and impassable so we had to scramble over the barbed wire and hedge to get past it. Then more mud and streams but eventually we got to Rouncil Lane so it was OK for a few hundred yards but then possibly the muddiest field I’ve ever been on and into the muddy woods and onto the edge of the golf course. At least we had done c9k so the end was not too far away and the ground here was OK.
Then down the final hill to the finish at the Golf and Sports Club at Leek Wooton where my car was. Good medal, cakes, bananas made it all worthwhile (I think).
So well done the organisers and numerous marshals for a good tough event.
Then the results show 3 Massey Runners came 1st in their age category. Wow and well done all. Apparently there are prizes for us but by the time I’d finished the results ceremony was over. So we will have to wait I guess.
Massey Results for the 3 Age Category Winners:
F 35 1st Stephanie Saffrey 1hr 17 mins.
M 75 1st Dave Phillips 1hr 27mins.
F 75 1st Sally Slevin 1hr 47 mins.
Illmington “Mountain” 10k next week-easier than today?? We’ll see.