NWFPAC ‘Michael Page’ Championship 2022

In the build up to NWFPAC Race 4 - Lyme Park, Dave explained to me on a few occasions that this was very much a course for trail shoes and not carbon road shoes. Knowing this, I turned up in carbon road shoes and hoped for the best. I thought to myself: Worst case scenario, a rolled ankle and a trip to A&E would have made for an entertaining addition to my race report. Thankfully, the weather played ball which meant it was dry underfoot and therefore I figured I would get away with it...

For those that haven't done the Lyme Park parkrun before, it really is quite a special route within the National Trust's Lyme Park estate - however, the course is certainly as brutal as it is beautiful. This is not a parkrun you can ease yourself into as the first kilometre is a relentless rocky climb which is both steep and technical underfoot. After this, the gradient eases off slightly with some rolling hills which offer some respite. However, as a road runner living in Manchester city centre, I usually feel like I've done a run with some 'climbing' when I cross more than a couple of bridges in Salford Quays, so I was not exactly in my element on this terrain. Steven Henderson and Lee Ashwood quickly looked much more at home and started to pull away and form a gap which I knew would be difficult to close.

The rocky path turns to grass with a steady climb up to 'The Cage', which is thankfully followed by a kilometre long and relatively steep descent on trail paths. As I wobbled down the hill on my questionable footwear, I struggled to keep the pace I probably would have been able to achieve in trail shoes. I realised at this moment that Dave may have had a point, however it would not have made any difference to my placing as the lead runners were well out of sight at this point. The final 1.5km or so move uphill again towards the finish and at this point you just have to dig deep and see what the legs have left in them.

In terms of results, it was a great day for the NWFPAC runners with not one but two 1st place finishes! Steven Henderson took home 1st place overall with an impressive personal best of 18:31.Equally impressive was Charlotte Howarth's 22:47 (also a personal best), beating the second place female by over a minute. Charlotte surged up the final climb to pass Josh and beat Dave to the finish funnel by a second! Massive congratulations to both Steven and Charlotte on the wins and the maximum 20 points. An honourable mention to Lee Ashwood (19:10) who came home with 3rd place overall and 18 points on his NWFPAC debut. Also, well done to David Chambers (21:57), Spencer Seymour-Smith (22:34) and Nicola Boorman (30:41) for their personal bests.