Accy 10k - Race Report

So much for Spring ! Accrington was resplendent in the haze of icy drizzle and slate grey clouds as I arrived for the third in the race series, the Ron Hill Accrington 10k.

The registration was in the town hall and the place was a buzz with club runners sporting the vests of Clayton-le-Moors, Darwen dashers, Blackburn Road Runners etc. It looked as though it was just Steve Henderson, John Williams and I who had braved the weather, but it was so busy in there with everyone staying out of the rain that we didn’t see David Avery or Sophie Sasimowicz who had also made it to the race. The pre-race chat was full of thinly veiled fighting talk, there was mentions of PB's and hill rep training etc. When the time came the runners were coaxed from the warmth and led up the street to the start line where roughly five hundred runners prepared for the 5k uphill 5k back down course.

Off we went and, in usual fashion, Steve disappeared into the distance not to be seen again until after the finish, John also set off quick and built a 30 second lead on me, but with the uphill first half in mind I was trying not to push too hard. The crowds thinned out pretty quickly and soon we were out on the main road heading up the hill towards Rising Bridge and, by the two mile point, I had caught up with John and was now on his shoulder keeping pace.

Throughout the next 3 and half miles we swapped places dragging each other along, probably a little quicker than we would normally go but as the we came back down into Accrington the pace built. In a Cram / Ovett esque (in my mind anyway) way, there was decision to be made on when to break in the final mile. Through a combination of seeing the town centre through a break in the trees and a need to speed up to get past another runner I decided to go for it with about three quarters of a mile to go.

With my lungs burning and the serious concern that I had horribly mis-judged my fitness, a marshal called out that there was only 400 m to go, so head down and hoping that John didn't come steaming past me, I sprinted into the finish in a respectable (for me) 41 mins 41 secs. I am not sure whether it was a fast course or a slow course but it certainly was a fun one and it was really good to have a shoulder to shoulder race with John throughout the whole race.

Our results were as follows:

Men

1. Steven Henderson (EY) – 5th – 37:34 (new PB!) – 20 points

2. Wesley Mort (Yorkshire Bank) – 49th – 41:41 – 18 points

3. John Williams (EY) – 51st – 41:49 – 16 points

4. David Avery (Lopian Gross Barnett) – 176th – 49:48 – 14 points

Ladies

1. Sophie Sasimowicz (Lopian Gross Barnett) – 270th – 55:18 – 20 points