Tatton 10k - 'Michael Page' NWFPAC 2020 Championship - Race #6

Finally, a race that wasn’t cancelled last minute! After over 6 months of only virtual races it was great to finally be racing again with other people actually there at the same time. You could say it was more of a time trial than a race, with runners being set off in pairs every few seconds and results based on chip times, but once the run started it felt just like a normal race with the added element of not knowing exactly where you were in the race (e.g. the difference between my gun time and chip time was almost a minute). I also quite liked the less crowded start as compared to the pre covid mass start where it can be tricky to get going.

I don’t whether it was all that lockdown training or just the perfect weather conditions, but this race definitely seemed to lend itself well to all of us with at least 4 PBs being achieved by our group and some impressive times. It was a picture perfect autumn morning, nice and cool without being freezing, mist rising over the fields of Tatton Park and bright sunshine (I had to go back to the car to get sunglasses) – a surprise after a week of solid rain. We even had the odd deer for company.

The course itself was an out and back, slightly undulating, with a couple of off-shoots on the way out to make up the distance to 10k. These were the less enjoyable bits as they were quite gravelly, full of pot-holes and a section through some woods on a muddy, slippery path. However that didn’t last long, and most of the race was on the main drive through the centre of the park, with a nice long downhill section on the way back, past the lake.

Of course not knowing where other people are in the race makes it a bit harder to try and race them, but I was fairly sure that when Rob and then Adrian flew past me that they were well ahead – they finished with times of 36.58 and 38.13 (PB) respectively. Byron was of course leagues ahead, first of the NWFPAC runners and fourth overall in the race with a PB of 33.35 (1st MV45) – all the more impressive for running a marathon last Sunday.

I also managed a PB along with Alan, who beat his previous best that he’d set back in 2012!

Let’s hope today’s announcements don’t scupper any more racing plans as it would be great to get at least one more in before the end of 2020.