Race report Mick Jeffrey

There was a lot of rain on Thursday prior and we were warned at the start that the course was quite muddy. Saturday was cool but with a beautiful clear blue sky. The Otley contingent met up pre race  with a pair of Browns, Debra and Simon and a pair of Jeffreys, Howard and Mick. Last year I won my age category by beating John Ward of Abbey runners who by his own admission set off too quickly and faded in the last two miles. I saw his name in the entries and looked him up on Power of ten to check his current performance level. Gadzooks! He has been knocking out sub 23 minute parkruns whilst I have only managed three sub 24 minutes. Howard meanwhile told me on Wednesday he wasn’t entering but at the last minute he entered. So potentially sibling rivalry as well.

Howard went for a chat with John Ward who told him he was out for revenge! Howard then told me he was doing it as a training run to test a troublesome calf issue. I stood next to John in the starting funnel and did my best to phsyc. him out in a jocular manner. I asked him if he would be setting off too fast as usual. Howard set off at the rear. At the off I fell in just behind John and for the first three miles I was within 6 feet of his ankles running just at the limit of my comfort zone. The course is very technical in that it was very muddy in places, there were prominent tree roots in many parts of the course and slippery rocks to manoeuvre over. Oh and there are quite a few steep up and down hill inclines. My game plan was to follow John and pounce somewhere near the end. However as we climbed a grassy uphill he slipped twice and gently fell backwards  and I somewhat reluctantly found myself ahead. So change of plan. I upped the pace as best I could and hoped for the best. I didn’t look back as that is a sure sign of weakness and ploughed on feeling pretty good on the flat and downhill and not so good on the uphills. I did look round with about a mile to go and with no John in sight probably eased up a little. Another look round atop a hill and yikes there he was about 6 runners behind. Luckily the last mile didn’t have too much uphill so I was able to finish 30 seconds or so ahead.

Howard was happy with his run as his calf behaved. Simon unfortunately twisted his ankle not far from the end, just as he had done 9 years previously when he last entered. Debra professed satisfaction with her run as she is gently increasing her mileage in preparation for the Guy Fawkes 10 in November. I got a cash prize of £15.00 for 1^st V70

1 Mark Hilden       Dewsbury Runners    48.14

3 Charlotte Somerville Abbey Runners 51.39

83 Mick Jeffrey Otley AC                               68.14 1V70

88 John Ward Abbey Runners                     68.49 2V70

119 Howard Jeffrey Otley AC                      73.14 3V70

135 Simon Brown Otley AC                         74.33

221 Debra Brown Otley AC                          98.19

232 Finishers     

Race results https://racebest.com/results/68f98