90% of life is showing up and by that definition, Wessex Road Runners were 270% successful at the most recent CC6. It was back to the New Forest and back to Roundhill Campsite for the second race at this site. It was an excellent venue and using campsites for Winter race parking is clearly the way forward.
Phil and I were a little late – stuck behind a peloton of cyclists who had been reading the new Highway Code and asserting their authority. We arrived, parked up and found the Wessex spinner set up but nobody there. A quick, leisurely jog / warm up to the start and we found Richard. A slightly disappointing turnout, not enough for a team result, with only three of us but the glorious surroundings and a fine. dry day soon made up for this.
The course was different to the first Roundhill CC6 but used some of the same paths. A good turnout of runners and a nice, friendly buzz at the start. A gentle downhill to begin and we were off. The course was well marshalled and lots of encouragement on the way (thanks to Romsey, Halterworth and Southampton Tri). It was mostly gravel path with a few ups and downs, only one muddy section which was actually pretty tame. There were very few narrow sections and plenty of space for manoeuvring / overtaking. The course was nice and dry with little standing water, the only disappointing thing was little wildlife to see on the way round (perhaps Chris Packham had signed them up for Winterwatch).
Phil was first home, placed 36th. Great running by him, he certainly has improved since joining Wessex. I (Nigel) came in at 125th having got my distances completely wrong – for some reason I struggled to convert miles into Kilometres with ease (I blame Brexit) and finished a lot sooner than I expected. Richard finished 145th, which was fairly impressive considering he pulled his groin with about a mile (about 15 Km I think) to go.
A good course, well marshalled and tasty cakes at the finish. Onto the next race at Ocknell, hoping for a good turnout and good weather.
Note to self – 4.3 miles = 6.9 Km
Wessex Road Runners 