Trotters 5 - 'Michael Page' NWFPAC 2020 Championship - Race #2

What a fantastically well organised event hosted by Burnden Road Runners on my debut in this race. The route was a wonderful mixture of road, tarmac and paths punctuated by a farm yard with some country aromas carried in the strong breeze! A sign on a post on the route read ‘you run the country better than the Government’ resonated and found it quite apt!! We ran (ahem!) this route twice but it was still hugely enjoyable as there were plenty of places to pull over and gasp for breath! How somebody ran this race in just over 30 minutes is beyond me and can only suggest they were on a trial bike!

The motivation for the finish was the thought of a coffee and slice of lemon drizzle cake provided by the wonderful helpers in the sports centre. I kept reminding my fellow strugglers on the day why it was worth finishing the race. Sadly the inclines and driving wind beat me up and took their toll on my time and I did feel sorry for the wonderful stewards standing out in the cold. The consolation was that at least it was dry and, despite the overnight rain, the organisers did very well to put on a more than acceptable route for us all.

My own battle with breath and the wind was to try and beat fellow Olympic athlete Paul Johnson, who pipped me by 1 second at Lostock last week, fell short and, like Tyson Fury, he raised his arms aloft ahead of me on the finish line..…well done Paul! A nod to Jill though who sneaked in just before both of us!

As you can see below, there were some wonderful times on the day from our participants, with Gareth Hurfurt leading the NWFPAC pack with 33.08..….nothing ‘Lethargic’ about that Gareth!

Congratulations to Stewart Haworth and Mike Caine on their PBs..…Mike was then running another 14 miles later as he is in training for the Bolton Ironman. Mike was making his NWFPAC debut alongside Nicola, who also put in a great time too! Dave Simmons was pipped by Ian Riggs on the day, but has vowed it will never happen again!!

Well done everyone!