Vale of Clwyd 10k

Race: Vale of Clwyd 10k
Time/Position: 36:03 (1st from 149)
As this race starts just a couple of miles from where I went to school, I'd been quite keen to do it since it was launched last year. It is indeed a lovely circuit round hilly rural lanes above the Vale, but the day ended up being memorable for reasons other than the view. I won the race overall, but it was all slightly unfortunate and very much 'by default' as lead runner Gary Norgrove took a wrong turning in Llangynhafal. The race starts from Llandyrnog, and a group of four or five of us set off ahead of the rest of the field. I gradually worked my way into second place on the very long but fairly gradual climb up to Llangynhafal and had a comfortable gap on third by the time we turned right towards the village. I could see the leader up ahead, although he also had a big gap on me by the time we approached Llangynhafal over a series of short hills. The route to this point is quite tough, with a lot of climbing, and I was looking forward to opening up on the descent when I passed the water station near the Goldie to suddenly find myself right behind the lead vehicle at the front of the race. This was puzzling initially, but I began to suspect Gary may have gone wrong when I failed to see him in front, even on the long straights. I still didn't fully realise what had happened though, and had a big (1 min+) gap on the next runner, so didn't need to push it too much on the excellent fast descent back to Llandyrnog. A couple of sharp climbs led back to the village where I got the full story on what had happened and we tried to work out a fair solution. Nice event, though, and far more attractive than the average 10k.