If anyone tells you that Lincs is flat everywhere, then just escort him or her round this 13 miler especially the non-stop uphill drag from 6-9 miles with a head on wind so strong and cold that forward motion was a “collector’s item”. In fact you could lean at 45 degrees into the viscous wind anywhere on the course without any fear of falling over.
So a very full field started from the sports pavilion at RAF Cranwell for a circuit of the grassy air field, then some minor roads then a lot of very muddy farm tracks and fields and very difficult muddy and dodgy terrain ‘till the 4 mile mark.
But the wind was the real killer as it swept in from the sea from the east gaining momentum and a chill factor of zero degrees I reckon. Add to this the fact that Lincoln is actually very flat in as much as you can see for probably 30 miles in each direction with hardly a tree, wood, hill or any protection in sight-plus hardly any hedges on the road sides for protection.
Also I reckon once we were out of Cranwell we didn’t pass a single house, pub, shop, person (except marshals) for the whole route-and the farm houses were miles away down their own lanes so we never saw any of these either.
So wind and solitude ruled but eventually the end came back onto the airfield for a mile to the pavilion where goodies, T shirt, coffee and wonderfully hot showers greeted us.
So why do I go there every year for the 1/2? Well it was Adolf Hitler’s fault. As you know he liked bombing cities and Coventry was a well know target to be. So Bablake School, Coventry evacuated in around 1940 to Sleaford and my dad was an English master at Bablake-his only job in fact for 37 years. So the family uprooted to Sleaford with dad and there I was born in 1944 and never saw a bomb – nor Adolf for that matter. QED then.
Roll on Cov ½ next week-should be a stroll in the park.
Massey time:
Dave Phillips 2.34