Yesterday was the Hampshire Cross-Country Champs, handily taking place at nearby Fleming Park. Christine had been let off marshalling duties so we didn’t have to be there until after midday. I took the children to the playground whilst Christine prepared, returning in time to cheer her in to the home straight. She finished a respectable 31st and 4th W35. I was a bit concerned as to quite how many laps of the old golf course my 12km race might entail but it was sufficiently convoluted that we only had to go round the three times. Although muddy, none of the course was under standing water as it has been on previous visits!
After a fairly fast first lap I concluded that I wasn’t going to finish at that pace and slowed for the second. Perhaps because of this (or could it even be the semi-regular training that I’ve managed for the past month?!) I actually felt fairly good on the last lap. I even managed a bit of overtaking in the final mile although was gutted to lose out on yet another sprint for the line (to the sideburns in the accompanying picture!). I came 41st in the results which equated to 33rd in the senior men (unlike the women, the men have to wait to 40 for the next category) in a time of 45:48 which, although some six minutes slower than the winner, I was pretty pleased with. To put it in perspective, my 10k time was 39:09 over an undulating and muddy course. Perhaps I’ll even try my hand at a 10k on the road this year…
That’s a pretty impressive 10K time given the conditions. I’ll come and cheer you on and mind the children 🙂