CC6 - Kings Enclosure - Race Report

Glorious autumn colours, gleaming in the sunshine - mornings like this are one of the reasons why I love running in the Forest.  We started from the area near Fritham that's used for a number of the RR10s and CC6s.

I thought we had 9 runners today - an impressive 3 teams - but then Bridget & Nikki arrived rather breathless at the last minute having got a bit temporarily misplaced on their way from the car park.  It was a good warm up/cool down opportunity length trek to the gathering point - and then a second walk to the start.  I have to admit to being a bit bemused as to why we didn't start at the gathering point & add a little to the distance - but that is being picky.  Being Remembrance Sunday, it was good that we observed a silence before setting off.  Claire ran with her poppy intact - most impressive.

Paul Hammond photo

Did I mention it was muddy?

"F-ing challenging" was the rather accurate description given to the route by one of us afterwards!  Yes, there were lots of hills, but none would have been overly taxing if they weren't covered in gloopy, trainer tugging mud.  And there was water.  And slippery leaves.  It was really obvious afterwards that Sarah N had thrown herself into the cross country ethos with mud splatters up to her waist on her clothes!  And Sally had some rather fetching splodges on her face - a bit like a Hollywood heroine emerging from a forest adventure.  I did check with the marshalls en route if we were looking glamourous - apparently we were - so all good.

Paul Hammond photo

4.2 miles with a loop in the middle.  I did get lapped on that, but it wasn't too bad.  The volunteers were good - positioned so that the route was clear and all gave us encouragement.  It took me over 51 minutes - a useful reminder of just how much difference terrain and gradients can make to a run.

We joined Sally to run her in at the end - she did incredibly well and was buzzing afterwards.  I was particularly impressed with Jo C's performance too as it was her first cross country since returning to running this year.  

Our results (remember these are positions, not times):
Siri 32
Sarah N 33
Claire D 39
Dawn 47
Bridget 66
Wendy 67
Nikki 68
Gin 69
Jo 71
Sam 73
Sally 75