Leighton FR XCL (Wing)

All-out effort on challenging course

After a semi-cautious approach at Wooton, I put it all on the line this time and made up a 'massive' 2 places to 29th vs 31st last time).  Given how I felt in the last km, I'd hoped for a better reward, but at least I know I left it all out there amongst the cow-pats, stagnant water, hills and cloying mud!

I was pleased to finish 1st MV50+ again, leaving me in a strong position to lift the MV50+ Series-prize with 3/5 races completed.  I am also standing 12th in the MV40+-rankings.  

Sir Darth Frampton eases through the stream... but Andy doesn't ...











NHRR ladies were 2nd on the day and the men 4th. Overall NHRR were 4th on the day and moved one place up the rankings to 4th after 3 races.

St Neots Half-marathon

Sunday 17th Nov - another good effort...

• Good conditions - cool and still
• Good quality field
• 01:20:19
• 1st MV50 prize (106 in category)
• 27th out of 900+ finishers
• 3rd best half-marathon time ever
• 3rd best-ever age% score (83.37%)
• Best time on this course
• Suggests 10k time of 36:00-36:30 possible

Well, that's 9 races in 8 weeks and I am still in one piece.  My right calf and hamstring are quite tight though, so no speedwork this week.  Next Sunday - guess what?  Another XCL meet - race 10 in 9 weeks!

I am feeling very good in half-marathons, despite hardly doing any over-distance training.  If I can translate 6:08 mile-pace into 10-mile, 10k and 5-mile races over the coming months I'll be very happy.

Wootton XCL 10/11/13

No mud-baths, fell-running nor water-crossings - perfect, but...

I liked this new course, although 3 big laps and 2 small ones (as opposed to 3 small/2 big) would have have been better.  4.3 miles is a tad too short.  I felt I set off far too fast at Wellingborough, so decided to set off more conservatively this time.  I was quite happy with my performance until I found out my finishing position was 31st - compared with 25th last time.  I'd hoped this was due to an injection of faster runners who'd not made the first race - analysis showed this not to be the case - I think I just played it a bit too cautiously.  Having said that, perhaps my mind and body were just not up to another full-out effort, given all the racing I've done in last couple of months?

Never mind, I was 1st MV50 again, putting me in a strong position to win the series-prize for that category and I did my bit for team-NHRR. 

Despite fielding a much weaker team than in Race 1 (I was 3rd male-scorer), NHRR finished 5th overall (3rd Men, 7th Ladies) and are still in touch with a top-three position.

Wootton XCL PREVIEW

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Stevenage Half-mar

3/11/13 another good day at the office...

Given this is not the fastest of courses (and cerainly much slower than the recent G.E.R.), I was pretty pleased with my performance here, which I consider to be on a par with that in the G.E.R., albeit about 40s slower.  As in my last 3 races, it was pretty windy again here!

(left) County Champions!  Mark Vaughan MV40 and yours truly MV50 - (right) around the 9-mile mark.  Thanks to Sue Vaughan and Karen Dodsworth for the pics
(below) Herts County GOLD!









* My time 1:20:55
* 13th place overall (out of 583)
* Herts County MV50 Champion
* 2nd MV50 overall
* My best ever time on this course

Wellingborough XCL

27th Oct - strong winds, steep hills and stream-crossings

At first glance, Croyland Park looks a very innocent venue for a cross-country race, but looks in this case are very deceptive.  With a couple of steep switchbacks on the valley-side, a new extended section around playing-fields (including a steep bank), the infamous stream-crossings and  the 3-lap structure (familiarity breeds despairing anticipation) this race adds up to - arguably -  the toughest challenge in the Three Counties League now.  Add in the strong winds and you had a mean little 5-mile ordeal on your hands!

I was fairly happy with my 25th place out of nearly 400 and 1st MV50 position.  This was my highest XCL-placing since 2010.  I may have set off a little too fast and had a pretty grim 2nd lap, but I managed to rally for the final lap and make up quite a few places, including 2 in the last 100m. 

 

NHRR men were 3rd and the ladies 6th, giving us 4th position overall of the 13 competing teams. We had almost our strongest teams out, so we couldn't have done much more.   A couple of teams seemed to have raised their game a bit this season too.  In previous years, I think we'd have finished 2nd or 3rd with a similar performance.

Once more into the stream dear friend...