"Heaton Park"

Well the most eagerly anticipated weekend of the year finally arrived (after the WWFOR of course!), yes it's cross country time. Yesterday I drove some of the team to the first race of the Manchester and District XC League at the tough but fantastic Heaton Park. There was lots of nervous banter as we travelled and parked up, found the club tent and then cheered off the Ladies for their race.

A wet and blustery day turned warm and sunny but with a wicked headwind as 2.30pm and the Senior Men's race came round, and over 200 runners charged off down the first descent of the day. All my old rivals were there and no-one was giving anything away about their form! Three two mile laps were a real shock to the system and whatever training you do you can never truely replicate the pain of wanting to stop but knowing that a rival could be right behind! In fact I caught a glimpse of my nemesis Jack from Salford Harriers (who I spend the summer hanging on to in track 3.000m races) at the start of the final lap and had to work hard right to the final half mile climb to the finish to hold him off by nineteen seconds & three places. I'm not competitve but one nil to me!

The full results haven't been posted as i write this and without any photos either the only one I could find is one of Oasis who made a triumphant return to play a huge gig at the Park in the summer!

Next weeks race was to have been as part of the Club team for the English National XC Relays in Mansfield, but based on yesterday's performance I know I have missed out on a place by twenty seconds. So instead I am going to take a trip into the hills to run the famous "Dovedale Dash" in Derbyshire, a race I have always meant to run but have never got round to.

Annual mileage 1020