What a great race....the atmosphere was superb, the sun shining and the hills looking inviting! Pre race was all about the tractor parade, kids races and tea and cakes in the village hall! The warm up was a good opportunity to look at the hill everyone was talking about and it was certainly one that would be a challenging one. My target today was just to have a good strong run and not be too worried about my time as the course, the weather and the strong breeze were not going to make the race a quick one. The intention was to take a steady first mile or so then push on from there. Once the race got underway I wondered if there was a prize for the first to hit the top of the hill as a group of four runners went off at break neck speed while I settled into my steady pace. At the first corner I was in 5th place but realised that the four "fast boys" were not as fast as they maybe thought and I soon passed them and found myself in the lead after 1km and settled into my rhythm with the lead car setting a nice pace for me. Soon it became clear that as long as I continued to work hard off the hill and keep a good hard pace a gap would be established. Daylight appeared and by 3km or so I was well ahead of the field. I must have missed the km markers and had no idea what speed I was going (having left my Garmin at home!) so settled into a decent pace that was comfortably hard. I realised at 8 km into the race that the time I was likely to post would be around about 35 minutes which I would be happy with considering the conditions and the course. The best bit of the race was to come with hundreds lining the main road in Kirby Moorside cheering and clapping as the lead car and I came into view. To mark the fact that this would be my last race as a senior man (the next race I will be a Veteran!!!) I wondered if maybe an aeroplane type celebration, fist clenching in delight or even a cartwheel might be appropriate....in the end I settled for a few "hand slaps" with a few of the local kids who previously had raced the kids dash. 35-20 was my watch time but I await the official results!
After a warm down around the local countryside of Kirkby Moorside it was off to the presentation to pick up my piece of local pottery which turned out to be a rather large plate! It also seems that the NYMAC boys had also secured the Male Team Prize with myself (1st) Brendan Anglim (3rd) and Phil Musgrave (PB and 7th Place) plus a mystery NYMAC runner (we await the official results to find out who!).
So old father time moves on and next time I put on my race kit I will be a Veteran of 40 years and above....Thanks to the Race Referee today who must have known this as he shook my hand and said "Well done young un!" I thanked him and jogged off at a rather sprightly pace!
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