Race report by Dave Phillips.
I can’t recall how many times I’ve said “they don’t come any tougher than this one”. So I’ll say it again because it is killer.
Both races started in Higginson Park and went through the town on the closed High Street then the trouble started as it was uphill for > 2 miles. The beautiful Chilterns are a wonderful place to run and today was no exception especially in the beech tree forest wooded areas where the beech trees had shed their leaves to leave all areas with golden brown carpets of leaves. Never seen anything so spectacular. Plus of course the red kites soaring above made wonderful viewing.
Eventually at 4 the race split and as always the minority did the half so, apart from the kites there was not too much life around me.
Then it was up, up, up and down repeating this pattern ‘till 7 when it was just up. We were then on top of the Chilterns where the only way was down. Trouble was when we got down we had to go up and over again as Marlow is on the other side at the bottom.
So along we plodded on some flat, some up and some down ‘till 10 when the final very steep took us back to the top again at 11.
Good news was that it was a repeat of the start but this time it was downhill and flat to the finish in the park.
So we had beauty, hills up and down, stunning views and scenery and of course the red kites.
Back at the HQ we had a huge medal and a fantastic light blue long sleeved T shirt with Guy Fawkes and fireworks emblazoned all over it. Never seen anything like it so well done Marlow Striders for a super day.
I say it every year that the Red and Whites should come and see what a stunning tough half is like. Maybe one year? Who knows but you won’t regret it.
Massey time: Dave Phillips 2:45