Stanmer Park 5

This was a 5 mile race down in Brighton, along a road through the middle of Stanmer Park. For those who know Stanmer PArk, it is bloody hilly, but the raod isn't too bad. We did 3.5 'laps' and there's certainly a gradient along it, and it becomes much more noticeable each successive time you run up it!

Apparently the race rnearly never happened, as there was a legal rave still going strong in the park. I don't think this part of the proceedings was sponsored by Saucony. Shame...

The men's elite race only ahd about 12 people in, but there were some very good runners entered, and despite the inevitable dropouts, with the likes of Luke Cragg, Dave Webb, Ben Tickner, Jon Pepper all running, it was still a top field. I know I'm still not fully fit so was just going to test the waters again, have a hard run, and hopefully come out of it unscathed.

We started at 10.47 (good to see Richard Nerurkar is as fastidious with his race timings as he was with his mararthon training) and Ben tickner shot to the front, followed immediatey by Luke Cragg. I sat in behind Dave Webb, Jon Pepper and Jon Gilby and told myself not to puh too hard early on, as I was unsure of my fitness. We turned a tight hairpin bend then came back up the road, and I moved past Jon Pepper and level with Dave Webb. By 2 miles I was feeling ok so tried to push on the pace a tiny bit to keep the front 2 in sight. My first mile was 4.56, then 4.43. By the 2nd turnaround, Dave and Jon came past me again and I felt like I was working hard up the hill. I found miles 3 and 4 tough as I got isolated and my lack of strength right now meant I couldn't keep it together as well as I normally might. I passed the 3rd and 4th miles in 5.02 and 5.13 and knew 5th was my best possible finish. Jon was having a similar struggle behind me I think as I finished in about 24.48 with a 4.53 last mile and comfortably in 5th place.

Overall I'm reasonably pleased: I was fairly competitive for half of the race and I'm happy just to be racing and not feeling amazingly unfit. The day was fun and it was a great event, kudos to the Saucony guys and the Run Brighton team. I then stepped over the bodies from the rave and went to Brighton for a vegetarian lunch at Terre a Terre. Chsk it out, very good food.

LAters.

Ben