David Currie

Took part in my second Clarendon Way Marathon today from Winchester to Salisbury (having done the half a number of times before that). Set off far too fast but then I was also running the first leg for an IBM Hursley Runners relay team. There were two other relay teams out in front and then three of us marathon runners together. After the first changeover one of the three made a break and I went after him.

We made it through the halfway point at Broughton before the half marathon competitors started (an hour and a half after we set off). I was out in front at this point after the Pewsey Vale runner had slowed to take on fuel. The first half marathon runner went past at about eighteen miles (he later took the course record in a time of 72 minutes).

By this point I was starting to slow on the hills and, at around twenty miles, I was finally overtaken. There was no way I could keep up and, as the miles dragged on, I was starting to worry I wouldn’t make it back in under three hours as I had hoped. I eventually staggered over the finish line in 2:58:57, five minutes down on the winner but still in second place.

Congratulations to Christine’s Mum (Sue Ashton) was came ninth in W50 at the World Masters Mountain Running Championships held in Keswick yesterday.

21It was an overcast day for this year’s Test Way relay although still a bit too humid for running to be really comfortable. Although there had been some changes to the teams, Christine and I were still down to run the leg from Mottisfont to Romsey. As we warmed up, the leading Winchester ladies team came through about twenty minutes ahead of the rest of the field. After a couple of mixed teams, Christine went out in second place with Graeme McRobert who had kindly stepped in at the last minute to act as minder.
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Christine and I are both running the seventh leg of the Test Way relay for Southampton Running Club in a few weeks time and we made the most of today’s sunshine to run the leg from Romsey to Mottisfont (and back). Should be fun with a good mix of woodland, open fields and some short sections of road.

Tonight saw the last RR10 of the season. IBM organises the event so I didn’t get to run (I was on first aid duty instead). Unfortunately the final results show that I’ve been pushed down to 16th place in the league – my worst position ever. Even worse, having edged ahead of Christine in the rankings in the previous race, I have now been pushed back in to 22nd place – three places behind her!

A trip to visit the in-laws in South Wales gave us a chance to run the Waun Fach fell race – 7 miles and 2000ft of climb. After a dismal morning it did actually stop raining for the start. It was a long hard slog up to the summit and my southerner’s legs slowed to a walk once or twice. Sprinted along the boggy ridge trying not to lose sight of the runner in front of me in the mist. Descents have never been my strong point and he dissapeared as soon as we turned downhill. I was only overtaken by one runner though and finished a creditable 8th in a time of 57’36. Christine was second lady and her Mum first female over-50 so we had a good collection of prize beers when we finally came away from the post-race pub.