West Wight 3 Hills, 2019

We last ran this race back in 2017.  Like then, today was bright and sunny, although mercifully the intensity of the heatwave of recent days had diminished.

We caught the ferry to Yarmouth along with John Horton, and had a pleasant cycle ride along the disused railway line to Freshwater.  At race HQ we said hello to a few folk and got ourselves ready for the first hot race of the year.  It was super to have Hampshire Hare Kate and her daughter Alice join us on their first race of this kind.

With Alice, Kate and John

And of course the lovely Mrs S

I reckoned I was in the top ten as we went up the first hill, and caught and handful of guys on the downhill sweep into town.  And after that I was all on my own.  I loved the course, and felt strong on the hills.  Coming down off Headon Warren, I had a comedy episode when a marshal shouted 'right turn' and then realised that the turn was his right but my left.  There was lots of tape and signs, and I never felt in danger of getting lost.

Then the big push up on to West High Down, heaving away with my hands on my thighs, a few minutes on the down and the final scent to the Tennyson Monument before belting downhill.  As I arrived at the bottom of the field, John (Kate's husband) was there, telling me I was in third place.  Wow!

Fired up, I kept the pressure up as I headed north-east on the roads for the final section.  A bit further on, a young girl called out to me as I went past.  I didn't hear and I asked her to repeat it... I thought she said something like 'keep left', and like an idiot I just carried on, because her tone sounded like she was giving advice.

I ran on for about 600m, and it was very quiet.  I passed a 'Totland' sign, and I got the horrible feeling that I was heading in the wrong direction.  With a groan I turned around and ran back to the girl who was looking flustered and saying 'I told you it was down here, pointing to a path on the right of the road.  I'm ashamed to say I vented a few words of frustration at her... but really it was not her fault and she should have been better briefed and supported.

Now in a turmoil of frustration, I ran on to the finish a few hundred metres away.  I finished in 57:19, nearly 3 minutes down on my 2017 effort, but today was over a km further and I was 7s/km faster - I'll take that!

It's easy to get cross and frustrated when you give your all and it fails because of a technical error - but this was a good outing in beautiful surroundings.