Jolly Holly Jog

Ripon, Monday, December 28, 2009

Andrew Thompson

The Jolly Holly is always a good run to blast the post Christmas cobwebs away and this year was no exception – except this year there was a nice covering of snow to make it a little more interesting. At the start the man with the megaphone happily told us of our impending doom in the final couple of miles, and if we didn’t want to run to mind our footing on the trip back down the hill to Ripon. Myself, my mum, Jean and my brother went along for the trip and it’s a long way to go not to run so to turn back was not an option. We bumped into Jim at the start, who was looking (I hope he doesn’t mind me saying) as apprehensive as I was feeling.

My mum drives slowly at the best of times, but due to the ice we kept a constant 40mph down the motorway, so by the time we ran to the start line my blood pressure was up and I was ready to give the course hell. There’s nothing like a lung buster of a hill to get rid of the red mist though, and the one in the middle of this race seems to go on for days. After the hill the course meanders up and down through the (countryside) estate for a bit and then along back to the start along farm tracks. The tracks were almost un-runnable, but my brother was also racing and he always zooms past me in the last mile of any race so there was no let up. My first fall came at exactly 5 miles, I know this because I had to alter my path to get out of the way of the mile marker which proved a bad idea. It was ok though, I managed to overtake someone while on my bum, which I don’t think I had done before. The second fall was entirely silly on my part, I tried an elaborate overtaking manoeuvre on a sharp corner that was never likely to end well, and sure enough it didn’t. Luckily the hedge stopped my slide and it was back up and at it. Turns out my brother didn’t overtake me, and finished 20 seconds behind, though with no falls. This was the first time since the 1989 Destiny Run that I have beaten him in a race, a fact made the blood and bruises feel not so bad….

Results

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 ELLIOTT-DICK, PHILLIP York Knavesmire H M 0:37:39
11 PENTY, BECKY York Acorn F 1 0:42:47
122 THOMPSON, ANDREW M 0:53:07
126 THOMPSON, BEN M 0:53:41
182 GILLESPIE, JEAN FV50 0:58:23
369 NICHOLSON, JIM MV60 1:12:08
378 COFFIELD, MARY FV55 1:13:23
417 THOMPSON, MARGARET FV60 1:22:25

442 finishers.

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