Rudyard (25th July, Summer Series)

This was the week of my 30^th Birthday, so celebrations were in full swing three nights before the race after an evening in the Silk and Strand (leek) with family and friends as we celebrated mine and my twin sisters birthday party. Most of the people who turned up were for my sister…I did managed to eat her cake and try to ride a child’s bike down some steps… Thanks for everyone who came to celebrate with my sister and myself.

After a sore head the two days later I had to put on my racing head, as I wanted to try and finish 3^rd in my category in the overall prizes.

With the support of Cara and other friends I made during the series I was surprising pleased to find myself feeling I could race this one, as I knew the course from many walks around the lake.

The Lake is named after Rudyard Kipplin as him and his family visited the lake regularly to feel the breeze in their hair to look upon the silver veils that rippled around the lake.

The first part of the race consists of approximately 2miles of straight and flat road.  This is not my strong point so I knew I had to hold a good position until we reached an uphill.

The race started at a fast pace as I expected, I hung back and tried to stay with those footprints that had become a familiar path, this came in the form of Richard and Toby.

After the nutrition of some fly’s and the summers heat, I felt a little tired as people passed me, I knew I could not do anything about it as I would blow up.  It wasn’t until the never ending straight had finished I could make my move. 

This came after the cattle grid followed by cows that made for some unusual spectators. I could hear the sound of bagpipes from the lungs of Johnny Whylock. This inspired me to put a little more effort in and this worked as I passed some of the runners that overtook me on the flat.

I managed to overtake and catch up with Tyler and Richard both were having a good race.  I knew it would take a lot to bet these two, so I tried to maintain my pace and put more effort on the gradients.  This seemed to work as we approached the boat houses I had made up some positions and with the support of members from Staff Moorlands Running Club I managed to hold off Tyler and Richard after an exchange numbers.

I then reached the visitor center and mooring points for the boats, it’s a good view from here, but I didn’t have time to admire it this time. As I had to burst into a spirit to pull away from my pursuers.  I managed to do this until the finish with a time of 31 minutes and 02 seconds to finish in 5^th place, my best finish since starting the series. Result for Team Raidlight.

This was my first race in a Team Raidlight shirt.