Hampshire League XC - Salisbury

Well this was my first race for nearly 3 months and so was just a touch nervous as although I have been feeling fit again, until you get in a race you never really know how well you're going. The course was pretty dry and I could probably have got away with flats again. It had some long inclines, but wasn't too hard a course and was about 5 miles long or so. Tom Payn was there after a heavy training week and Martin Mashford was 7th at the Southerns recently so would be pretty good competition too.

As it turned out, I felt pretty comfortable and me and Martin went to the front early on. He was with me up the first set of hills, and then I made a small gap as it swept downhill on the other side. Martin made up some ground on me I think up the hills again but I pulled further away down them after 1.5-2 miles or so and then it remained that way to the end. I felt pretty comfortable and didn't have to force the win, and won by 15 seconds or so. Tom was knackered and said he felt really flat and he finished just behind John Hutchins who was 3rd.

The only negative was that my hamstring twinged when I was coming down the hills at about 3.5 miles. I thought it was going to go completely as it came from nowhere but it didn't get any worse and I tried not to over stretch it down the hills. It was a touch sore afterwards, but seemed to improve as the day went on. Hopefully it has passed but I'll get it looked at anyway.

Still, good to know I'm in half-decent shape and was good to be racing again!