South Road Relays

I shall talk about my leg first even though I went off number 5. I had a brief chat with Owain Matthews on the start line (Bedford athlete and fellow welsh man) just before the leader came around the corner for Aldershot, then another athlete, with one more before I saw the Belgrave colours so I went up to the start line and set off in forth place. Got off to a good start and past the first man after a hundred meters but took a while to catch the other two with Aldershot athlete over a minute up the road.

I settled into a pace and feeling a bit heavy (maybe from last weekend) tried not to ease back a little bit around the housing estate, I caught the next runner after around 9minutes but couldn't see the leader as there are a lot of twists and turns out on the course. It was only after 15minutes I saw the leader and he seemed to be coming back to me a bit, there was still a lot of time so with a very slight breeze now behind I tried to relax and keep the legs turning.

About a mile to go I went past to take the lead and with it being a team race I tried to extend it as much as possible even though I knew we had some good runners to come in the second half of the race. I came back over the little wooden bridge and could hear all the team shouting with someone saying he wasn't in sight behind with only 200m left I didn't need to dig out any sort of sprint and gave Goolab a little shout as he set off on the next stage.

The only thing that annoys me is the people out for a stroll or walking their dogs, We all know its not law they have to move but when you see guys (and girls) running, and doing their best you think they would just be nice and move out of the way for a few seconds rather than make you jump on the grass to avoid a crash.

The team did really well, with a few teams putting out a strong runners to start we thought about stages 5-7 we should take the lead but you never know what runners will be there for other teams. The team spirit was as good as ever and having the fastest guys over the long and short legs it set us up nicely for the win. The course is alright and good for a relay but it does seem to have a lot of sharp turns and with a few of them on gravel you just have to be a little careful although I don't know of anyone who went over!

We shall face Tipton and Mr Nicholls in the National as champions of midlands and the south and should be a good battle! Mr Draper should also be showing his scary face but you will have to ask him.

Simx