With Picturesque settings of the Castle and glorious sunshine it was a beautiful day to run. Event directions had been emailed out prior to the race by Wild Deer but this did not stop the chaos trying to find the entrance and getting to the start on time. Apparently, there may have been 2 different postcodes in that email but having ran cross country at Lambton I had braved not checking, but definitely caught more than a few people out. Claire happily smiling as we all ran past as she drove in but relaxed as it was chip timing and no one else from her division, she gave the rest of us a 15 minute head start.
To add to the pre-race stresses, I turned up only to realise my trail shoes were split and would not last the 10 miles, lucky for me Ron Hill was on sight, and I was able to try out the Freedom trail shoe which I can happily recommend, they felt like a road shoe very light compared to my usual pair.
There was a surprisingly low turnout for Race 8 this allowed a far more relaxed approach to the run for myself in what has been a very competitive Division 3 this year only the 2 of us instead of the usual 5 to 7. So being polite I let Shaun know I’d be running as per my training plan 14 miles in total 10 miles of the race followed by an extra 4 miles at 8:30ish pace.. but I get the feeling he didn’t believe me as he shot off and was 1st Blyth home in 1:16:06 claiming 9th place from 225.
The race itself felt like a nice social run, easy pace and a bit of a natter as we only had 11 running from the GP. I had a nice catch up with Adam in the first 5 miles before gently pushing on. 3 Divisions only having 1 runner allowed them to take in the scenery and push at whatever pace they fancied.
John Younger taking maximum points for Division 2 in 15th and a time of 1:18:28.
Nikki Courtney taking maximum points for Division 4 in 50th place but notably 2nd in her Age Group in a time of 1:31:50.
Honourable shout outs to Dave Bradley and Sue Browning for both finishing 1st in their Age Groups.
The route itself was enjoyable some nice flat tracks and fields to run across, with some woodland and just a few tasty hills thrown in for the fun of it. I’m glad I didn’t have to race up the hill for the last 1km as that one was just cruel as Lee found out when Leanne managed to catch him.
The battle for Top spot in Division 7 is now extremely tight going into the last 4 races with Anita taking the honours today to move level on points with Anne at the top with both ladies now having 5 counting races.
The multiple views of the castle at various angles were nice, would I do it again … possibly… definitely as a social.
As ever despite the difficulty getting into the race grounds, I found the Wild Deer team well organised, the route was well signposted and a nice selection of goodies at the finish with something for everyone. I went with the buff, coke, & a snickers this time.
21 members have now completed 2 races from this Category and only Race 12 Brampton to Carlisle remaining to grab those vital points.
Next up Race 9 Redcar Half on September 22nd
Regards
Rich
The full results can be found HERE