GLOUCESTER SPORTS BLOG

The Grand Finale

Competed in the final fixture of the Birmingham Cross-Country League Division 2 on Saturday at an icy cold Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton. I've not run this course before so was looking forward to competing somewhere new. Walked the course beforehand so I knew how to plan my race, there were quite a few loops and it looked a fairly technical course, rather than just running round the edge of a few fields.

It was quite icy underfoot so I went for 12mm pins in my faithful Adidas XCS 2 spikes, quite glad I did as I saw a few guys in trainers slipping around on the later laps as the course cut up.

After a good warm-up, we set off with a small parade lap before 3 big laps, I settled in at the back of a lead pack of about 12-15 runners. Moving out onto the main lap, I slowly made my way forwards and pushed on up the short sharp slope into the top 10. I quite enjoyed the challenge of picking my way around the best racing line. Onto lap 2 and I was up to 9th place but feeling quite good, picked off another couple of chaps including a friend of mine who runs for our local rivals! Up to 6th place for lap 3 but I was having a good battle with one chap who kept overtaking me and then slowing at the turns. Back to 7th as he overtook me with 600m to go, but I got within sight of the finishing field and then took off! Almost caught 5th place but had to be satisfied with 6th.

Got to be happy with that after being ill recently and still limited to training only 3 to 4 times per week. The icing on the cake was finding out I'd finished 3rd overall for the season in the individual standings! Team performance was disappointing as we were missing a lot of runners, but we ended up 5th team for the season so not too bad. Had a warm-down lap in my Adidas Supernova Sequence 4's and then head for home.

Quite glad the cross-country season is over for me, I can now start putting in a bit more speedwork ready for the road season and then track and field! Happy running - Steve