Barrie Roberts reports; I left Birmingham at 4:15pm and, in the Friday rush hour, headed for Northampton in the hope of getting to Blisworth Football Club in 2-3 hours. I had had a sudden urge to run/race that evening; a last minute decision! I travelled via the M40 and A43, and reached my destination 75 minutes prior to the Race Start.
I was able to register and collect my race number, and had plenty of time to `warm up.` The Race Start was well over a mile away from the Registration. I got to the Start, which was somewhat congested, with 5 minutes to spare. The Race Course was on open, but on relatively traffic free roads. There were plenty of marshals and attendant supporters cheering/encouraging `us` in our endeavours. The Event was welcoming and well organised. The Course was described as undulating, but quite a number of us thought that it was hilly! (Rhetorical question: When does
an incline become a hill?)
I enjoyed the 5 mile Race; especially when the early congestion thinned out. However, the warm weather coupled with the inclines/hills made it `hard work`on the day. The local running clubs were very well represented and the performance standard of many of my fellow runners was at was a very good club standard. I had raced in the Hagley 10k (MT) on the previous Wednesday Evening, and although I ran quite well at Blisworth, I think that it might have come a day or two too soon! I was 319th to cross the Finishing Line out of a field of over 400 in a time of 43:50, and third in my age category.
The post-Race BBQ at the Blisworth Football Club,with attendant burgers and hot drinks,was much appreciated because by 8:30pm I was quite hungry. As I had to drive back to Birmingham, I gave the Club Bar a wide berth!
PS. Last minute decisions on a Friday Evening make it difficult to gather a pond/or lake of Teal in time to get to the start of such races! However, three SBs in 6 days is, hopefully, pointing in the right direction.