Guy Fawkes 10M Ripley
North Yorkshire
Sunday
2 November 2008
the course profile and my split
times and pushing on in the
final mile
Wot a fab race and a great way of spending a
morning
I'd just wanted a race close to York as I was visiting my
parents that weekend, and this was the closest I could find. Parking was good.
Entered online so I had to collect my number on the day, but that worked fine.
Clearly a popular race in Yorkshire - loads and loads of club vests and 3 clubs
arrived by coach. Now I know why!
We gathered in the car park beforehand, and had to wait
for the 10.31 number 36 bus to Harrogate to leave the village before we could go
onto the road. And a very fine bus it was too with black leather seats and all
sorts of stuff inside (not that I tried it out today, of course).
The first mile or so was slow coz of the number of runners, and we ran around
Ripley and through the castle grounds, and skirted a village called Bedlam.
The race features a number of steep hills and I managed to
throw in a 7.32 mile in the first half but was immediately slowed down big time
by having to go back up an even steeper hill! The views from the hilltops made
it all worthwhile though.
Unlike in recent runs and races I was able to push myself instead of just
drifting round, and there were several runners who kept passing me on the ups
whilst I overtook them once again going down. I'm pleased to report that there
weren't many of them who finished ahead of me.
Despite the rural nature of the race there was lots of
support out there. The marshalls were friendly and supportive too, and I have to
say it's one of the best races I've done for a long long time.
The final mile was along a woody track. The surface was uneven, and it started
off uphill . . but it soon levelled out and I pushed towards the finish (see the
photo above).
200m to go and still downhill and still overtaking . .
100m to go and suddenly there's a Sting in the Tail and a Short Sharp Very Steep
section before a left hand turn through the Castle Gate to the finish.
1hr 31 on Garmin . . almost a PW but that honestly doesn't
concern me. What's important is that I went out and pushed myself as hard as
current fitness allowed me too plus I Enjoyed Myself!!
Results were up online quickly and I was 547th out of 814 which ain't so Shabby
for a Bloater (see the photo above once again!).
Then a Nice Surprise . . a Goody Bag in the Form of an Up
and Running Duffel Bag type thingie . . which contained
1 x 100g jar of Nescafe Alta Rica coffee
2 sachets of Posh Coffee
1 Tube of Smarties
1 bag of Jelly Babies
4 small Kitkats
2 Milky Bars
Guess who was sponsoring the Race?
But then another Surprise and another Queue . . where I was given a Black
Longsleeved Techie T-shirt . . Amazin', and entry was only about £9.00.
I'll Be Back!!
