We had an early sneak preview of the newest course on the Road Race League calendar earlier this month when Messrs Carter, Heather & Carter (that's a new law firm right there) did a course recce. Whilst Strava gives you an idea of the course profile, there's nothing like the real thing though and there was a sense of excitement in the air as we congregated in the Bugthorpe school playground that was masquerading as Race HQ for the evening.
Pre race intel told us there was a big hill early on and a sneaky kick towards the end, beyond that we would need to be there in person to find out. The first bonus was as we left Race HQ and walked up the first hill to the start. Very considerate of the YKH race organisers to give us that gift, surely they would make us repay the favour later on though.
Starting at the top of a hill means that the first K is going to be mostly downhill and so it was. A rapid first K at that as we all settled in and found our rhythm, zig zagging around others in the field hoping our early optimism wouldn't fail us later in the race.
It didn't take long for the pay back to begin. About the 2K mark the road kicked up, not Bishop Wilton scale of up but enough up to slow you down and make you gasp for air in the hot evening sunshine. I was fortunate enough to be alongside Jim at that point and as we reached 3K he announced the hill was nearly over.
My thinking going into the race was that I'd already got 4 events in the bag so all I was looking to do was improve on any of my previous finishing positions to move up the overall league table. Knowing that in the past, a number of rivals have had 'prior commitments' around the time of the Bishop Wilton race made me wonder if the same would happen again and there would be a gilt edged opportunity to get a higher than normal race finish.
The ups and downs continued. Not big hills but big enough to send a message to your legs that the going was tough. The pitter patter of feet also continued right behind me as Jim ascended better than me and I went down the other side slightly faster than he did. Good old cat and mouse but really valuable as I'm sure it helped us both.
Through 8K we went and the movement in our part of the field was non existent. No one overtaking and no one ahead that was close enough to catch. Just me and my pitter patter mate in our own little world, mindful of the late kick up that was due any minute.
And so it came, the short stretch back up the hill to the start line before the wacky races style finish all the way down the other side back to the school playground. By the top of the hill there were two Acorns and a Pock Runner in my sights. I love the smell of the finish line and it was a nice feeling to overtake all 3 of them on the final descent, knowing that Jim was motoring as well.
Proper chuffed to have chalked up a sub 40 on that course and finish about a couple of metres behind one of the legendary local runners who I have oodles of respect for. Richard Ginn, watch out in Wistow!!
It was great to see Dom in the finish area, having chalked up another fantastic time and a top 15 finish to sit as 2nd place Postie behind Jordan who registered his 5th consecutive race win. It would be great to see him complete the clean sweep in Wistow. I'm not sure that's been done before but I'll stick my neck out and say it hasn't.
We're also staking a claim to first place in the ladies race as well as Coach Becky claimed the win in her first Road Race League outing of the season. OK so the results might say she's YKH but we'll cheekily share in the glory.
Other notable performances in respective age categories came from:
Jess - 9th in Ladies U35
Harriet - 12th in Ladies U35
Sophie - 19th in Ladies O35
Di - 8th in Ladies O45
Simon - 9th in Mens O40
Jim - 11th in Mens O40
Marc - 20th in Mens O40
Sean - 12th in Mens O60
The consensus of opinion seems to be that Bugthorpe makes a great addition to the calendar. A perfect mix of the beautiful but challenging rolling scenery of the Wolds. Loved it.
I'm saving the best performance of the night for Patrick. Having travelled over with me I got a late night call asking if I'd seen his house key. Alas I hadn't but a neighbours ladder and some nifty footwork later he was back in through a window. Sadly there isn't any photographic evidence to share but impressive athleticism Patrick and watch out for him at the next Tough Mudder!
The race photos aren't available on Facebook at the time of writing so you'll have to make do with this pre race shot from the organisers.
That just leaves a late round up of the parkrun results from last Saturday, the highlight being that Dom finally turned up at an event to find there wasn't some other speedster there so claimed first finisher status at New Earswick. Well done Dom.
Clumber Park
21st Jamie Butler 22.03
52nd Rob Butler 25.29
Heslington
26th Andy Heather 20.51
66th Simon Middleton 24.07
Millfield
50th Andy Ellwood 26.14
85th Lisa Ellwood 30.55
New Earswick
1st Dom Carter 18.18
3rd Jim Carter 19.08
18th Chris Thompson 23.20
35th Alex Davis 26.03
Well done again to all Posties who were out running last night. Tough course, hot weather, great camaraderie as always.
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