This was a new course and it was well-designed... a great mix of technical sections and good gravel track, and even better, no laps. I was nervous at the start that my road shoes might prove to e a bad choice, but all was well.
A guy at the start stood on a crate and told us it was an 8k course. I set off cautiously and spent most of the race happily picking others off. I kept Dan Powell firmly in my sights and I geared myself to stay close behind him and let him do the pacing. However, suddenly there was awful swearing and Dan was hopping about on one foot, the other stuck in mud. (Apparently this happened to him twice.)
7k on the GPS and we were heading uphill towards the finish. I was trying to pace it carefully. At around 7.4k, Jim Davies from Lordshill passed me (Jim overtook me in the dying seconds of the Stoney Cross race two weeks before). A few paces later I went around a bend... and there was the finish. I had just been gearing up for a last push and felt a bit swindled that it had finished early and I still had more to give.
Still, 21st place was OK. I'm now 20th in the league, in between Jim and Dan.
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