Race: Wirral MT Series, Race 4 (Arrowe Park, 4.8m)
Time/Position: 26.20 (9th from 204 [1st V40])
This has been a brilliant series: it seems odd that I've never done the races before. If anything, the races are tighter and the competition (almost) as intense as the border league. The routes are all very varied and genuinely multi-terrain. This one, two laps round Arrowe Park on the western side of Birkenhead, was another parkland route. A big loop of a field took us into the woods for some dark and muddy tracks: fast and gently downhill almost all the way. The usual frenetic pace at the start, so I tried to relax into it and hang back a bit: my usual tactic, although it's not a tactic to take too far over these short distances. I felt quite fresh and pushed on as we emerged from the woods to a series of fields which leads gently but continually uphill back to more woods and the second lap. I went past the quick Richard Webster on the first lap and managed to maintain a reasonable pace for the second lap (the woods now very dark!). Felt faster but a little more comfortable than the other races, though the 'speed' may have been illusory given the dark. I finished the series with the maximum 25 points from three category wins, so won the V45 category (9th overall). The series has punctuated a rather intense month of racing: this was my seventh race since the start of September!
No comments:
Post a Comment