Team standings after race 3 of 4What a lovely place Epping Forest is to run in on a summer evening. Of course, it would be even more enjoyable at recovery pace! Then, there is the ‘small’ matter of THAT hill up to the 4.5 mile point…
First of all, to team matters. We had another fantastic turnout from NHRR runners and supporters which was rewarded by another 3rd place on the night. This consolidated our overall cumulative 3rd place after 3 races and also extended our lead over 4th-placed FVS from 5 to 10 points.
The Orion course is scenic, but tough! Ranks 3rd in my hill-factor list of 71 road-races.I set off quite conservatively, yet found myself well up the field after the first mile. In fact, I felt very comfortable for the first 3 miles, despite continuing to move up the field. The only point I felt rough was coming up the big hill in mile 5, but that was the same for everyone I’m sure! In not overdoing it in that section, I had enough left in the tank push on in the final 2 miles and hold off several challengers. Well, that is, with the exception of our own Steve McKeown, who sneaked up unnoticed and pipped me right on the line just as I was feeling good about out-sprinting a St Albans runner. Steve, it was an honour! Perhaps it was comeuppance for doing the same to Mark Robertson in the first race, when 19th and 20th places were also exchanged at the last between two Squirrels?
I was happy with my performance and for again being in the top 5 V40s. That makes a consistent performance across the 3 races to-date, with finishing positions of 19th, 23rd and 20th.
Hopefully we’ll finish off the series in St Albans with another bumper turnout and perhaps achieve our best ever MWL season.
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