NWFPAC ‘Michael Page’ Championship 2025 – Race 3: Tatton 10k

Tatton 10k – Flat, Fast, and Full of Delusion

As runners, we’re always hunting for pre-race excuses, weather is usually our go-to.  Wind?  A gale. Rain?  Biblical.  Sun?  Too sunny.  But Tatton Park cruelly gave us absolutely nothing to complain about.  It was dry, sunny, still, and mild. No pressure then…

Things didn’t start smoothly for me.  Josh and I set off on a warm-up jog, but like any good pre-race ritual, we ended up separated and I soon found myself staring at a very official looking START banner.  “Odd,” I thought, “why is no one else here?”  A few moments of confusion and a light existential crisis later, I realised I was at the 5k start.  Cue a frantic dash to the “actual  start line just in time to preserve my all-important NWFPAC gun time.  Pre-race strides = sorted.

Right before the gun, the announcer chirpily reminded us it was a “flat and fast” course.  He didn’t mention the soul-sapping false flat later on, but we’ll get to that.

I set off with the confidence of someone who hadn’t done a 10k in a while but still decided to run the pace they used to be capable of.  What could go wrong?  Well, nothing for the first 3k…lovely park views, a gentle downhill, some sheep and deer watching on (Ralph was also absolutely convinced he saw Sir Alex Ferguson spectating…despite no one else seeing him).

As I ticked through the early k’s, I caught sight of Gricey just ahead.  Promising, I thought.  That is, until I remembered he’d already knocked out 15km before the race even started.  The man was essentially finishing his long run, while I was just about holding on in the first third of my race.  I promptly decided to let him drift gracefully into the distance while I admired his work ethic from afar.

The middle section brought some undulations and a brief foray into ‘off road’ territory…Carbon plate safe, thankfully.  Then came the Tatton Park false flat: a long, straight stretch where dreams go to die.  It looked flat.  It didn’t feel flat.  I tried to find another gear, but my legs politely declined.

Thankfully, there was a morale boost from Dave, jogging round the park while rehabbing his low-grade hamstring strain and dishing out high-grade encouragement.  That gave us all a little lift, especially on the long out and back, which offered a good chance to see other club mates.  I spotted Steven Henderson charging toward us in a podium spot, Alex and Josh trading motivational shouts. Then came Steve Hughes, who had opened proceedings at full speed 10k race pace…only for his achilles to respond with a firm “Nope.”  Ouch.

By the final couple of kilometres, it was all about survival.  The sun (yes, we’ll now admit it was hot) was blazing, and I was just clinging on to my early pace.  I scraped in under 38 minutes, which felt like a fair result considering the misadventures en route.  Unbeknownst to me, James Cairns was only 20 seconds behind and closing fast.

In the end, some cracking results:

• Steven Henderson bagged a podium finish and maximum NWFPAC points.

• Stephen Grice earned himself a shiny new 10k PB.

• Steve Hughes earned himself a date with a bag of frozen peas.

Tatton lived up to its billing: flat (ish), fast (until it wasn’t), and full of stories.  Whether it was Ralph hallucinating football royalty, Gricey casually 10k PB-ing at the end of a 25k run, or Steve Hughes discovering the limits of optimism, it was a classic NWFPAC outing.  Sunshine, strong runs and suspect decisions...what more could you want from a Saturday morning?