Ribble Valley 10k

This is always a good quality race, and an opportunity to run fast so I made sure I eased down properly for this one.  There was added interest for Northern athletes with the inclusion of the Northern Championships, and we were hopeful of doing well as a team with our strongest four runners (barring Marius who is on a three month Olympic training camp) all towing the line.

I remembered from last time I ran this race that the second half is largely downhill and very very quick, so wasn’t too concerned when I passed 3km in 9:14.  Especially so, as I was still just about in contact with the large leading group which included some very high quality athletes such as Jonny Mellor, Ali Brownlee, Luke Cragg and Ricky Stevenson.  Nobody seemed keen to really get the race moving, and soon after that 3km marker, I found myself at the front for a few hundred metres.  It was a strange feeling to be in front of these guys as it wasn’t a scenario I had found myself in for a good few months but I was feeling good and it did allow me to be well positioned when somebody did make a move!

The move came from the four guys mentioned above, with other guys like Derek Hawkins, Phil Hurst, Antony Ford and Ash Harrell responding to this change in pace.  The timing of my move to the front had left me well positioned and I had Matt Barnes and Ben Fish for company as I reached the cone at roughly 5k.  Mohammed was just on the back of us and was groaning in discomfort.  I turned round to encourage him to keep going as we had a Northern team championship at stake, and when I turned back to look forward again, Matt had stolen a few yards and was starting to chase down the next group ahead.

Mohammed did drop off and I went back to concentrating on my own race, a little annoyed at myself for allowing the team race to affect my own personal race.  Myself and Ben were working our way up towards Harrell, Ford, Cragg and Matt Bond but progress was slow.  A quick glance back at 8km, and 2 or 3 people had broken clear of the huge group behind us and were really motoring quickly.  This included Andy so I put my foot down and pulled away from Fish and worked my way up towards Cragg.  As I caught Cragg, Andy and Chris Busaileh were within striking distance of us.  My 5^th mile was a very quick 4:45 and yet we had been caught! 

Andy and Busaileh continued their rapid finish, ahead of Cragg and myself.  Cragg didn’t appear in the results but apparently he stepped off the course with 100m to go. 

Altrincham did win the team race with me being our third and final scorer with a time of 30:36!  This was a significant time for two reasons.   It was my fastest time of 2011 right at the end of the year, but more importantly it was the only time I improved my best time for any distance from 2010. It was also good that I felt back to my old self and was able to get involved with some good runners for a good part of the race.  Onwards and upwards into 2012!