Race report by Dave Phillips.
Well they don’t come any hillier than this 1st race in the series of 5 until next Feb. Maybe that was why there were only 3 red and whites amongst the 361 runners there but come on we need more there as we were outnumbered by almost every local club-except Sphinx I think!
This race was in the anti-clockwise direction meaning that it was at the 4k mark when we eventually got to the top of that killer hill which is the highest point in Warwickshire. I well remember being at the top of this hill by the radio masts with Terry Harvey in the Stratford Hilly 100 (for teams of 10) in 1994 where we saw the 85 mile marker. Just 15 to go Terry I said. He was not amused! We were the 1st individuals to do the whole of the 100 miles and did it in 29 hours each. Happy long days.
Then after the 4k mark it was flat and steeply downhill to the 7k mark when it was all gently uphill again to the finish. So Flat and Ilmington is an oxymoron-a contradiction in terms.
Finally the finish was in sight and as usual the pack of sausages for all finishers. We will be eating these tonight so a day well spent.
Then the usual cakes and coffee in the club house HQ afterwards so well done Tempo Events for another superb event.
Make sure more red and whites are there on 24th of November for race 2 in the series.
Finally well done Dean who won the race! What do we need to slow him down? He could run with me-but today I had race number 1 so why wasn’t I 1st??
Massey results:
1st Dean Clark 37.24
119th Eden Ratcliffe 50.43
356th Dave Phillips 1.21
Good training for next week’s Snowdonia marathon (my 32nd Snowdonia and 501st –hopefully!!).