Snakelane 10 race report by Paul McGough

You are never sure of how you are going to execute a race when it it's isn't an 'A' race. You set off running to how you feel and this is where you usually have a good race so there's a lesson to be learnt here.

It's the A races that you feel you have to run to a set time that it sometimes doesn't go to plan.

So I set off at a fair pace but we all had the wind behind us. Doing 6 minute mile pace up a slight hill for the first 3 miles isn't too bad at all. Went through 3 miles in 18'03 so that was my fastest 5K in over 18 months.

I could see my team mate Wayne Bouttell about 150 metres up the road but knew I wouldn’t bridge that gap at any time in the race.

Approaching the turn just before 5 miles I knew we would be turning into a head wind so I made sure I closed the gap between me and the group in front. It was tough going but I knew it would pay off. After the turn I settled in behind a group of 5 runners and it felt a whole lot easier.

It was here that this group had an episode with a dog. The owners had let it race out their house and into the race course. They were more than happy to just stand at their front door and shout it back rather than come out and get it. It darted in front of us and broke our strides and someone took a swipe at it but missed. It disappeared but then I heard it coming back at us. It was only playing and joyfully running along with us but it would then dart across the front of us. Again some one took a swipe at it as this time he didn't miss and the dog definitely felt it! A bit cruel on the dog and it's a shame he didn't save the kick for the owner instead.

I was with Andy chadfield and we could see Phil Teece was in the group ahead so Andy made a push for it to catch the group and I went with him and did the second half of the work to close the gap. It was very rewarding to catch them and then be able to shelter and have a break at a slower pace.

We were then snaking our way through the lanes and I was happy to stick at the back getting sheltered. To be honest the pace was too slow but it would have been cheeky of me to ask them to lift it slightly! One bloke caught us and went past our group and I should have latched onto him but I missed my chance.

This group remained together onto the main road back to Pocklington. At that time I started looking at my watch wondering what time I would get and realised I was on for a pb. The trouble was we had a headwind for the last 2.5 miles. So I decided to make a push for home at the 8 mile mark. I left it a little later and moved to the front of the group hoping they would all come along with me and help me out. I went over the top of the last hill strongly and then had one mile to go. I felt someone was behind me but they weren’t coming through. It was only fair though that I put some work in after sitting behind the group for the best part of 2 miles so I was happy to do all the work now. With 300 metres to go I was suffering as the wind was at its strongest and it was Andy Chadfield that came past me pretty quickly and I only managed to stay with him for about 30 metres. I pushed on to the line as I knew I still had a chance of a pb but crossing the line I missed out by 4 seconds. On the whole I had a strong race and was very pleased with it. 

Regards

Paul