Beautiful day for running,even though I felt tired out on the climb past the British Legion to get a lift from the car park.My sense of athletic inadequacy was heightened by the sight of Angie doing a warm up lap of the field and then telling me of her planned Begwyns run the following morning - I knew that,if I survived the race,I wouldn't be able to do a lap of the dining room table the next day.Young Martin joined us full of enthusiasm about the weather,the race and whether the rising temperatures would lead to us seeing Angie in shorts. Nine Hotfooters assembled for the race at the Garnons estate.There was much talk of Mudrocs,Hardrocks,Mudclaws,
Clawhammers,arm warmers,under pressure pants and bondage socks.....ah, brave new world. Martin gave Carl an interesting motivational chat indicating that it was about time he won a race for the club:Carl was obviously affected by this as he started to speculate about the dangers of being carried off in the portaloo while in situ. Fortunately,this didn't happen and Carl led the team home in 4th place overall in a very good time of 47 minutes for the 6.4 mile testing course.Young Martin stormed home well under the hour mark. Jo came in next and, from my vantage point in her wake early in the race,seemed to be running as well as I've seen her - just in time for the beach run! I managed to keep Angie company with my wheezing until the big hill when she zoomed into the distance in pursuit of Jo to finish in 64 minutes - the rate of improvement of the Llanigon Flier is remarkable.I managed to stay within half a minute of Angie but was well beaten by a young lady in an anorak who regularly stopped as if to give me a chance to catch up.She looked quite fresh finishing on the race photos,while I looked like the Ghost of Christmas Past. Susannah had another good run in 67 minutes (one to watch for the future) and Shaun romped home despite it being a cross country race.Jules unfortunately was injured during the race but boldly finished by being kindly helped across the line by another runner:a bit like an exit from The Wheatsheaf on a Saturday night. Claire crossed the line with some style and was probably our best turned out finisher. Young Martin still had the energy to piggy back Jules to the car. Shaun was keen to carry Claire and make a race of it .I need to make clear to Claire that my opposition to this idea was based on the age and fragility of the horse and not on the weight of the jockey. Overall, a good morning out and a good, well organised race.
Martyn the Elder