Rothwell 10k

There was a pretty decent field assembled for this 10k race on Bank Holiday Monday.  Andrew Pearson has been in good form with a 48min 10 miler and several 65/66min hafs and low 30min 10k wins.  I knew from training with my brother Andy that he was in very good shape.  Then there was Steve Hepples who had a decent run at the National 12 Stage and the improving Dave Archer who had just returned from a couple of weeks in Font Romeu.

The race got underway and we were heading directly into a galeforce wind.  Nobody was happy at the front and the early pace was slow.  I was grateful for this as my hamstring has not been 100%. 

After about a mile, Fergus Meade from Leeds City put the boot in and Andy and Andrew Pearson went with him.  Meade quickly fell back, me and Hepples slowly made our way back to Pearson and Andy.  The 2k split was a slow 6:20.  Andy then surged at 3k and took Pearson with him, Pearson responded by sprinting ahead but he quickly paid for this and fell backwards. 

I wasn't able to respond to any surges or employ any sudden increases in pace due to my ongoing hamstring problem but was pleasantly surprised at how well I was able to chug along at a solid pace.  I moved past Hepples at 4k and set about closing down Pearson.  By 5k, I had edged into 2nd, with Pearson on my shoulder.  I felt I might be closing slightly on Andy so put my head down and moved away from Pearson.

I hadn't been aware of Dave Archer but he had been keeping me within a few metres reach since the breakaway and came alongside me at 7k.  We ran together until the last half mile when I tried to move away, failed, and he responded with a change in pace that I couldn't respond to.

My final time was 31:16 which I was happy with given the conditions and ongoing hamstring problem.  Andy won the race in 30:42


1 Andrew Norman   30:42
2 Dave Archer   31:11
3 Dave Norman   31:16
4 Stephen Hepples   31:53
5 Mick Hill   31:52
6 Fergus Meade   32:45
7 Andrew Pearson   32:59
8 Richard Brown   32:56
9 Carl Thackery   33:04
10 Andy May   33:54