Aldridge 10k – 12 June 2011

Andrew Halliday reports: Sunday 12 June 2011 saw the running of the Aldridge 10k.

The Aldridge 10k is a road race, on a tough course. It is up and down with a “sting in the tail”, that being a 2k climb between 7 to 9k. The weather was absolutely shocking – constant rain. I couldn’t even face the warm up so waited inside until 10 minutes before the race and then legged it to the start line!

At the start I saw 2 of the runners who had beaten me at DK 10k after I limped in in 6th place and that was all the motivation I needed. One of them was Ste Abrahams of Tipton Harriers, who had won the DK 10k. The race started at an incredible pace, with the two front runners out of sight at the 2 mile marker. I was feeling pretty good tucked into 5th place, and moved past Simon Massey (another who had beaten me at DK 10k) up the hill at 3 miles. The chase for Abrahams was now on, who had a 50m lead, and so I put in a quick 4th mile to close that gap, knowing the hill from 7k onwards would be the deciding factor. Surprisingly for me, I powered up the hill, and took a 20m lead into the last 800 metres. I put the throttle down and managed to secure 3rd place by over 20s in the end, finishing in 34m 33s.

The 1st and 2nd place runners timed 30m 26s and 30m 33s respectively, on a tough course! No doubt we will enjoy watching those young whipper-snappers in London next year.

Was disappointing not to see a bigger BvH presence at the race, but congratulations to Keith Elliot for completing the race in 1hr 15m.

A nice 3rd place trophy now has pride of place in the Living Room (although my wife will probably have consigned it to the Loft by the time you read this).

Four consecutive weekends of racing has set a new record of racing for me. The Blakedown Bolt 10k is next … who knows what the Gods hold for me on X Country!!!

Results here.