NWFPAC ‘Michael Page’ Championship 2024 – Race 4: Worden Park 10k

A leisurely 11am start meant a nice few extra hours in bed, which I'm sure we all welcomed.  However, what we gained in sleep, we also gained in degrees Celsius on what would turn out to be the 'hottest day of the year'!

As I warmed up, I bumped into Dave and, as we jogged to the start, we compared excuses – something about a sore this a sore that and of course...the heat.

The NWFPAC assembled at the start ready to rock and roll at 11am before a 5 minute delay was announced.  You could tell those who were gunning for a decent placing, as they set off on another warm up jog as though we weren't all warm enough!

Eventually we were let loose with a nice quick start and we had an inviting downhill first km with ample tree defence from the solar onslaught that was to come.  Feeling relatively comfortable, I was holding pace with Dave for the first 3-4km, with Adrian and Daria just ahead of us providing a distant target to chase.  Unfortunately, that distance widened for me and Dave also managed to break away slightly.

Another friendly downhill section was shortly followed by a steep short hill as the course cashed in its elevation cheque and we completed lap one in one hit.  As is the problem with a 2 lap race, you know what is to come...which meant that nasty short climb would rear its head again prior to the final 400m.

Dave and Adrian's battle continued and unbeknown to them, Rory was also in the mix.  Catching the three was very much off the cards for me as they became a distant mirage and from 7km on it was me vs the sun.  The three of them had a good little battle to finish all within a place of each other.  As you can see the middle section of today’s results is extremely tight, with five of us within a minute of each other!

At the time I thought my finishing time had become irrelevant.  But after seeing the results, I realised Ralph wasn't too far ahead!  However, it was all about digging in by that point and trying to hold on to what pace I had left.  The final hill did indeed rear its head, before a 'sprint' back through Worden Park to finally be greeted by the finish.  A relief after a gruelling few last two miles.

Temperatures called for 99s and cans of pop over the typical post run coffees as we debriefed and celebrated completion.  Huge congratulations to Daria who can now call herself a semi professional athlete after taking home £30 cash prize money for being 1st female, but more importantly taking all 20 championship points!  Also to Byron, Daisy and Stephen who both finished within the top 10 overall, with a PB in Daisy’s case too.