Netley 10K 2014

Laps (3 of 'em) and no medal - not a recipe for a must-do race in my view, but I enjoyed Sunday's 10K, organised by Southampton Athletic Club at the Royal Victoria Country Park.  To be honest, my main motivation was to complete the 7 runs for the HRRL league (apparently there's a mug involved) and Netley was the most convenient of the remaining league races.  

Positives included the park, views and lovely weather - and lots of Running Sisters (13 I think) plus honorary Sister supporters in the form of Verity's partner & Lou's buddy Gordon.  And we had some fabulous support from Tina from the wall of her home - right inside the park & about 3/4 of the way around the lap.  Pat was there in her race official capacity, reminding us to put some sunscreen on at the start - good advice as it was decidedly summery.

Another positive was loos.  There are a few in the park (all open) plus a few portaloos that meant minimal queuing.  And unlike many recent races, water was readily available en route and at the end - in fact a positive of 3 laps was 3 water station opportunities - thanks to John Compton & the rest of the SAC team. 

Having discussed warming up with Kelly, I led a "proper" warm up for once - I really should do that more often at races!  However, I still forgot to stretch afterwards...

I set off with Lou & Gordon but got selfish and decided it was flat enough to at least attempt a 1 hour 10K.  I ran with Melissa for a bit, but finished alone - the price of pushing for a time!  And I was unsuccessful: 60:25 although I'm convinced it was 60:13 when I crossed the line.  I guess I could probably justify knocking off a few seconds for it being non-chipped.

Sam had a rotten race, having to pull out after lap 1 with calf pain.  So galling for her.  I'm impressed that she stayed to cheer us in - hoping for a speedy recovery.  The good news is that she hasn't done any damage.

Marshalling should have been simple - but seemed to require more traffic management than I thought would have been needed - they did well.

Weirdest part of the run was being handed a red towel at the end.  It's embroidered with the race details - but still random.  Sadly no cakes - and I couldn't use the ice cream van as I had no cash.

But I'm being churlish.  It was a well organised, very enjoyable summer run & I could see the sea.  All good.

Results (bear in mind that these aren't chip times):

• Dorte Barkley 48:47
• Lisa Graham 52:03
• Verity Fisher 52:38
• Rachel Knott-Sturdy 53:45
• Gin Tidridge 60:25 (hurrumph)
• Emma Hickman 62:59
• Melissa Halford 63:33
• Louise Hillier-Wheal (and Gordon) 65:14
• Kelly Singh 66:15
• Claudia Lucas 66:47
• Tanya Carter 71:11