Fellow Strider Alister, MickyC (maybe/hopefully a future Strider) and I, left Durham spot on 5pm. It was quite a stressful long drive, battling our way through rush hour traffic, negotiating our way through the dreaded Tyne Tunnel and nearly been wiped out on the way by a Peugeot in the wrong lane arghhhhhhh, not the best start to our preparations for the race.
We eventually arrived, thankfully in one piece at 6.30, with plenty of time to collect numbers, pee and warm up… Conditions were almost perfect, warm but not too hot and with a light breeze, which in addition to the 2 lap course being pretty flat gave me hope of cracking 40 minutes for the first time this year. The starting gun went off at 7.15 and we were off.
I felt quite lethargic but glancing at my trusty Garmin I was pleased to see I was doing ok making it to 5k in just over 20 minutes. I managed to pick up the pace and at 7k I was on schedule for a sub 40. After 7km it started to go wrong losing time on track which had a slight incline, but despite picking up the pace once back on the concrete footpath, there was no way even though I had a strong finish I could not make up the lost time… never mind must work harder! Alister came in looking strong and fresh at 46.29 and he seemed to be pleased with his time.
It was a very long day by the time we returned to Durham and I was ready for a hot bath, food and my bed!
Results
Pos | Name | Club | Cat | Age Grade | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | BROWN, Mark | Morpeth Harriers & AC | M29 | 0.84 | 32:05 |
72 | STEEL, Jamie | M37 | 0.67 | 40:57 | |
94 | COXON, Michael | Unattached * | M37 | 0.63 | 43:04 |
145 | ROBSON, Alister | M37 | 0.59 | 46:29 |
* Go on Mike, you know you want to join …
228 finishers.