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| The winner |
"first V55 and overall race winner ..."
there was an audible gasp from the assembled throng as I edged through to collect the trophy, grey hairs flowing in the wind. Yes, an outright road race victory, my first in 20 years, well past my sell-by date but all the sweeter for that. I'd won the Horton Spring Bull Run, a lovely 4.3 mile race through undulating country lanes near Chipping Sodbury.
Two youngsters went haring off at the start, they told me afterwards that they clocked the first mile in 5.10, which is why I was nowhere near them. I ambled along in their wake but quite quickly realised that one was quickly coming back to me; once I'd gone past him and got into a good rhythm, it was clear that the leader was also coming back. Sure enough I caught him at two miles, ran straight past him and didn't dare to look back for the rest of the race. I won by two minutes!
Prior to Horton I ran two hard races on the roads. Having enjoyed some off-roaders, I wanted to see how my fitness translated into standard distances. The Maidenhead '10' has been going for 61 years and attracts a good field; this was going to be an excellent test so I decided to go out at a good pace rather that ease into the race and play 'catch-up'. The plan worked well; it was so good to be in a competitive group early on - albeit a little frightening as I was unsure about whether I could sustain the pace - and the competitive juices flowed. A final time of 60.54 was far better than anticipated (albeit a long way from the old training run adage of 'if it's an hour it must be 10 miles') and a real boost.
Two weeks later I lined up for the Worcester ½ Marathon at Sixways rugby stadium. Recovery from Maidenhead hadn't been easy and I felt weary from the outset on a bumpy, rural course. Apart from struggling on a couple of the hills, I maintained a fairly consistent pace and finished strongly for 6th place overall and another age group victory. It's sad that a time of 82 minutes can be so high up in such a large field (c 800 finishers) but this old man isn't complaining.
