National Cross Country Relays

Once again I was drafted into run the 1^st leg for the Belgrave team representing at the cross-country relays. After hearing tales of how quick the start can be and how messy it can get I was hoping to get away quick. Also, after what happened at the 6 stage with the chaotic start I wanted to make sure I was close to the front line because I figured the woods were quite narrow so it would be difficult to overtake especially if I'm way down the field. What made me even more dubious was the fact that every 5 minutes Simon Jones was taking the mick out of Steve because he was on first leg last year and fell over and got up in dead last. It was very funny but at the same time made me a bit nervous.

So there I am on the start line ready to go and pretty much right on front line, exactly where I wanted to be. The gun went off and a few arms went flying and I almost lost my feet but I kept my balance and ran hard down the hill and moved towards the front end of the field. Going around that initial loop I wasn't far off the main group and I made my way past people and by the time we were in the woods I was in the top 10 and even maybe in the top 5. Not much happened in the woods as there's not much room to go round people. It felt fast though and like we were moving over the ground pretty quick. Emerging from the woods there was still a fairly sizeable group and a few poepl I can remember were Andy Norman, Ricky Stevenson, Jonny Taylor and Ben Tickner. But going along the u-turn bit I think someone put a burst in and the group were slightly stretched and I had to increase my pace getting back onto them. Going up the hill we were back into our bunch and going through a lap I thought I may as well make a move and see what I can do. I took the lead going downhill but my attempt to make a significant change to the race was very brief as Jonny Taylor and Ricky Stevenson came right past me again.

But on that grass loop going into the woods a big move came in a big way from Ash Harrell of Norwich. He made a burst going downhill and seemed to open up a few metres on us. Me and Ricky went to chase but he just kept on pulling away. I went up the steep hill just behind Ricky then once that was out the way I went past him and put my focus on Harrell and trying to reel him in. But even when I felt like I was picking up the gap never seemed to get any smaller and it was as we came out the woods I was thinking I wasn't going to catch him. But on top of that as you come out of the woods there's a slight uphill which isn't too bad but when you're tired it can feel like you're running up Parliament hill. It was hard work but that wasn't my main issue. While I was in the woods chasing Ash I hadn't managed to drop Ricky and he was sitting on my shoulder. Going up towards the U-turn he came next to me and I tried to fight through the fatigue and make one last effort. I somehow picked my legs up and increased my pace and coming off the U-turn I then tried to move even quicker going downhill to get away from him. At this time I should also mention that I had given up on getting Ash as I thought we were too close to the finish and he was too far away, I was just trying my best to hang onto second. But going down that hill and trying to get away from Ricky I could see Ash getting closer and Maria and everyone else cheering for me got me going. I had Harrell in front of me to chase and I could hear Ricky coming fast from behind. I had a feeling that once I had made the last right turn of the race and started going along the straight to the finish things were going to be exciting.

So I made the turn and went downhill for a bit and then began the long, final ascent up to the finish. It was at the start of this climb that I came up next to Ash and within a split second came to a conclusion. I had Ash Harrell on my right who I'm sure wouldn't have let me stroll past him and I had a 3:54/3:55 miler right behind me with 100-150 metres to go. Now I'm not sure if you've ever been in this position but I did what I thought was the right move. Instead of waiting until the hill started to smooth out a bit, as soon as I was next to Ash I ran was hard as my legs would take me. I opened my stride to as long as it would go and moved my feet as quickly as possible; I was running at my hardest and I tried to hold for as long as I could and just hope that Ricky wouldn't come past me. Fortunately I just did enough and managed to get the win by a second. The good news is I had a good leg and put the team in good position to maybe contend for the race; the bad news is that we had Steve Sharp on second leg.

Needless to say that was a massive confidence booster for me. I was happy I mixed in and made a good account of myself against some classy senior runners. The time wasn't bad either, almost 20 seconds quicker than last year and it was the fourth fastest leg of the day. I was only 6 seconds down on the fastest and in a senior relay I think that's very good going. Like I said, a solid run and it sets me up nicely for Liverpool.