NWFPAC ‘Michael Page’ Championship 2024 – Race 7: Knutsford 10k

It was a beautiful crispy autumnal Sunday morning.  Weather conditions were perfect for a race PB (if that’s what you aimed for).  I fuelled up with my classic pre-race overnight oats topped with banana and a cup of strong black tea with lemon. I got ready and made my way to Knutsford. 

Once again, Run North West put on a well organised event, from seamless number collection to, more importantly, a decent portaloo:runner ratio.  As I got myself sorted for the race I bumped into Aisha.  We of course exchanged our excuses reasons why today is not the day for a PB.  I was relatively calm, no stress.. that is until Dave bumped into us and dropped a bombshell question, ‘can you write a race report?’.  “Sure” - I said and that’s where the real panic kicked in.  I choose to be an accountant for a reason, I am okay with numbers but maybe not so much with my words…

Now, onto the actual race.  We all lined up, the elites of our club positioned themselves at the front whilst Dave, Josh and I comfortably settled just in front of the 45-minute pacer.  We had the normal pre-race chit chat, the gun went off and, in a blink of an eye, I lost sight of both Dave and Josh as they zoomed into the distance.  See-ya!

The course was splendid.  The flat and scenic Cheshire country lanes displayed in picturesque autumnal colours. I was thoroughly enjoying the race whilst, in the front of my mind, thinking “what on earth am I going to write”, which handily distracted me from the race's physical struggle and I ended up running a little faster than planned... Next thing I know, I am slowly but surely approaching Josh, and then Dave, both grappling with lingering illness and injury, respectively.  I silently wished them “well done” (promise!) and carried on. 

I finally crossed the line in 42 mins 27 sec, shortly followed by Alex who secured an amazing PB of 43 mins 10 sec (well done, Alex!), then Dave (45:09) and then Josh (46:40). 

Well before I crossed the line, we had some incredibly fast times, ranging from 32:34 (Michael) to 40:58 (Aisha).  Everyone who participated today did amazing, so well done everyone and a huge shoutout to Steven, Mike and Alex on their PBs. 

As always, it was great to see everyone, have a post race coffee and a race debrief. Looking forward to our last championship on the 26 October!