‘Michael Page’ NWFPAC 2021 Championship – Race 4: Running GP Oulton Park 10k
- Sam Vincent (Castlefield Recruitment)
- Aug 9, 2021
- 2 min read
Sunday morning started with rain more befitting of monsoon season in the Amazon Rainforest than Manchester in August, although if anything in life is guaranteed.…it is rain in Manchester in August…
Alas, the stage was primed for NWFPAC’s 4th Championship race set in the idyllic Cheshire countryside, and a provisional start list of 6 runners in the 10k (and 2 who were running the half-marathon).
With Running GP having a marathon, 20 mile, 16 mile, half-marathon, 10k and 5k races all running side-by-side and me being new to the club / the pandemic having robbed me of most opportunities to get to know people, it was difficult to know who of the 6 made the start line. However, as we entered the starting pen, I spotted Adrian in front and team-mate Nicola who had come over to say hello/ wish him luck.
The race got underway and, as we passed through the start line, that was the last time I saw Adrian until after the finish, despite me thinking I could sit on his coat tails in the hope he would take me to a PB.
The course was a “short” out and back before completing 2 laps of the track and included, what seemed to be, the longest final km in living memory.
Today’s course was very different to the Race the Train course – a nice, wide open road with no nettles or horses blocking the way, but without the intimacy of single file trail running through the fields and paths along the Pennine Sculpture trail.
RunThrough do know how to put on good, well-organised race and the flapjack at the end was excellent and made it all worthwhile.
Against a field of 167, Adrian took the NWFPAC chequered flag and a spot on the podium with a 3rd place finish in a time of 37:05, I followed in 7th with a 39:14 and Nicola completed the set as 20th female in 56:44.
A special mention goes to our half-marathon contingent, Rob Johnson and Arvind Mahendran, who I am reliably informed both ran PBs – very well done!
Overall, despite the early conditions, a good morning out!
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