Midland Masters X-C

Race Reports

This year’s event was again held at Aldersley Stadium, Wolverhampton. Apart from the leisure centre and athletics track, there are a number of grassy areas (pasture land), intersected by hedges and small streams, with a disused railway line along one side, so the course was varied – a little muddy in places, quite muddy and wet in others, and just plain wet elsewhere. The shorter, 6k, course for the elderly men and ladies was two laps on a wet course getting increasingly cut up and boggy in places. The younger masters did an extra loop first, then pursued us slower runners. Numbers were down apparently this year, and there was certainly no congestion or even jostling. On the first lap I was up with Steve Herington, who is still suffering from an earlier bout of bronchitis, but early in the second lap I slipped on a tight bend and it took me a while to get into my stride again, by which time I’d probably lost 50m on runners who were level before. I’d also just been overtaken by the eventual M70 winner (still listed as a W45 in today’s published results!), so the second lap was psychologically tough, but also energy sapping as forward momentum was lost in every soggy footfall. So, out of 4 M70 runners, I was 2nd in 30.21, a minute behind Roger Wilson of Stratford. In dry conditions it would have been quite a fast course (for those who can do fast), but as runners we have to take what comes. At least it was probably better than Monkhall!

3 thoughts on “Midland Masters X-C

  1. Congratulations Guy – another outstanding performance. You were the 2nd Herefordshire runner (or are you a Salopian ?) to feature as Russell James took the bronze medal in the V45 category.

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