This is a beautiful course in the backdrop of Alnwick Castle. The course was pretty dry which made for fast running. There was a fantastic turnout for both the men and women including people doing x-country for the first time. I have to say that the recent new members have been so positive for the club with their enthusiasm and talent. Many of the “golden oldies” also ran including Morcambe and Wise themselves – aka Harra and Jamesy! Harra announced that he was fighting fit, had no injuries whatsoever and was going to trounce everyone after which he started to do some stretches on the floor of the tent to help his “stiff back”.
There were some fantastic performances from the women in their race and then it was the men’s turn. I had been suffering from a nasty chest infection but felt a bit better so thought would give things a go. On the starting line and the big shout of “hooooopppps” went up which was met with looks of fear and bewilderment from the other runners.
Off we went and I had decided to run the first mile fast to test my fitness. Fortunately I felt pretty comfortable and followed Fred with Dave Horsfall and Scott alongside me. Hiruy and Nathanael were disappearing into the distance and both ended up within the top 30-fantastic performances! On the second lap Fred started to pull away slightly whilst Dave and I pulled slightly away from Scott. I was really enjoying the course and felt I was running well.
Onto the final lap and Dave and I started to reel Fred in until I finally managed to get past him and was able to get a little gap. At this point I was unsure whether Dave had come through as well. Onto the final stretch and I was pretty knackered now but tried to push extra hard to maintain the gap. Luckily it was just large enough and I finished in 43:24. Behind, Fred had just managed to hold off Dave and Scott wasn’t far behind them.
I was really pleased with my run especially as I was unsure if I had recovered from the chest infection. A big shout out to the women for their shouts of encouragement! Hopefully this course will remain on the calendar. For members who have not done x-country yet I would encourage them to give it a go and to sample the fantastic team spirit on the day. The next x-country is our very own at Wrekenton and is a course with a bit of everything!
Iain Armstrong
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