Photos courtesy of Colin Stephen.
Little did I know when I published part 1 of this account on 6th May that it would take me over 6 months to produce the sequel. Alas, only 7 days later life events took over when my Gran left the world after a period of illness. The irony of this happening on Friday the 13th is not lost on me. On 16th April however, a month earlier, my Gran was at home and my mind was on the 12 Stage.
A bag of nerves is one way of describing how I felt on race day. I had raced in Birmingham before but not in this part. This event was new. Being 7th leg in a 12 man relay meant roughly calculating/educatedly guessing my likely starting window then working my routine back from there- when to eat, warm up etc. I turned up at the park just as 1st leg (including Ben Hukins for us) was setting off and, after collecting my number, wandered round most of the course before beginning more focused preparations. Looking back now, I seemed to judge it well.
The race follows a similar format to the Scottish 6 and 4 Stage Road Relay with alternate short and long legs. At just over 5km, the short legs were similar to the Scottish race with the long legs slightly shorter at 5.4 miles. The route however is much more awkward with undulations and tight turns, making good pace judgement crucial. Ben, followed by Ross Stephen, Ryan Thomson, Alistair Campbell, Alasdair Campbell (that's not a misprint, they are different people) and Scott Somerville, had us in 30th place in the field of just over 60 teams by the time I set off.
I had a confidence boost on the initial descent in the first half mile when I immediately gained a place. As far as settling nerves goes. that proved helpful. In these races where your competitors are largely unknown, it can be difficult to tell how well you're running. I always think that if you feel too good during a race, you're not running hard enough. I certainly felt I was moving well but was also putting the effort in. I wasn't dropping any places either.
The extra distance in the long leg is achieved by diverting into an out and back section which eventually rejoins the short leg to head into the finish. On the way out, I could see a group of 3 heading back the way and set my sights on catching them. Happily I did.
Above: gaining one of the 6 places I claimed for the team on leg 7.
By the end of my leg, I had gained 6 places and clocked a time of 27:18. Until I saw some results however I still couldn't tell if this constituted a good performance. This was confirmed to be the case when it emerged I was in the top 10 on my leg and 51st fastest long leg overall out of 396 runners. I'll take that.
Craig Jardine, Iain Reid, Richard Carr, Kyle McLellan and Stan Mackenzie continued the good work to bring the team home in an overall time of 4:31:53. Yes, that's 4 hours 31 minutes 53 seconds! We were 15 minutes behind the winners, Highgate Harriers (remember it's a 50 mile race) but around some distinguished names, for example, 15 seconds behind Birchfield Harriers and ahead of the likes of Shaftesbury Barnet and Coventry Godiva. For a first attempt after 17 years with a team ranging from under 20 to over 50 and several in between, we considered top 20 to be a successful outcome. The journey north was certainly a happy one and, as a club, there is an appetite to return for another go.
The full race results can be found here.
Above: the 13 man team, including the travelling reserve and one of my room mates, Chris Upson.
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