Hursley 10k, 2025

Good old Hursley 10k. I did this in its first year in 2010, and then every year except 2014 (injured) and 2016 (in Ireland) that decade. No race in 2020 (pandemic obvs) and it's now back.

My friend Alan Graham tipped me off about this race; after all, he and I were both featured on the sign-up webpage. 

I rely on Alan starting ahead of me... I usually catch him after a mile or so

The ground was firm and conditions were perfect, so I opted for road shoes. There were plenty of friendly faces there. Doing a warm-up, I realised there were plenty of cowpats to avoid in the start and finish field.

Setting off, I found myself in about ninth place. Perfect. Off the initial field and I passed Alan as we moved on to the (longer than I remembered) tarmac section before heading into the woods, which is where the race properly begins. Lots of hills - nothing too drastic, but steady wars of attrition which are hard work, but in which I reckon I can gain a competitive edge.

Gradually I moved up the field. 'You're fifth', a marshal told me at one point. In the distance I could see number 4, and I focused on closing the gap. There was a decent 50m hill between 5.5 and 7 km where I made a lot of ground, and I took him on the downhill after this.

It was then a full-on push to the finish with no one in sight, but mindful of potential late challengers. Luckily, there were none and I crossed the line in 40:57 chip time in fourth place. And 1st M50 to boot. Here are the stats.

Everything had gone as well as I could have expected. I had maintained my top-ten finisher record and I had felt strong. I'd run this in 38:29 in 2019, possibly my most successful racing year, but results like that seemed (a) impossible and (b) immaterial today.

Winning geezers, M50 and M60 respectively