British Masters Cross Country – Ruthin

With Sue injured, and Liz succombing to a virus triggering her asthma, and no other Croft ‘master’ entering the fray, I was the lone sky blue vest at the annual masters championships, though Herefordshire was represented by Steve H as well. The elderly men (over 65) and the veteran ladies all set off together to run the shorter 6k course. Two laps of a school playing field, avoiding the rabbit holes, was easy enough, then we took a muddy lane into a boggy field, with a bit of a slope to it, out again and down  the lane and into the bottom of a field by the river and then back up, through a muddy farmyard, round the playing fields once more before a second lap, omitting the boggy field, and finishing uphill through said farmyard and over the final 200m of playing field to the finish line. Steve had a great race, beating both the Midland runners who’d pushed him into 3rd place in January in the Midlands championships, and coming in 4th MV65 (26.44). After the first laps of the playing fields I didn’t spot another MV70 (runners had their age category pinned to their backs), but didn’t let that worry me, concentrating on putting my feet in the right place and doing my best to overhaul those around me. I crossed the finishing line in 30.12, thankful to have coped with my first race for 10 weeks. The results show I was 5th over 70, out of 11 competitors, and 23rd male out of 50. Had Liz been fit to run, she could well have been among the medals in the FV60 category.