Di followed him in her repeat run of leg 2. She put in so much effort that she was completely unable to respond to the heckling from me as she neared the end of her run at Burrowbridge. She did rally to attack me with her water bottle when I commented that it was the first time I’d ever known her to be speechless – which just goes to show that she could have put a little bit more effort into her running!
Ian took over for the ascent up to Burrow Mump and also finished in an excellent time, some 6 minutes faster than Martin ran this leg last year. However, we all know why Martin took so long..........good job that Ian has better navigational skills!! (Should I mention that Martin had recce’d the leg but Ian hadn’t?). 
And then it was my turn from Oath Lock to Gawbridge, and I’m pleased to say that not only did I not get lost, but I also prevented an Exmouth Harrier from going in totally the wrong direction at Midelney. We ran most of the rest of the leg together until nearing the end he very unwisely commented that since I’d stopped him from getting lost he would “wait” for me. I therefore took enormous pleasure in sprinting past him on the final stretch to the bridge to finish in 5th place and a time of 106.11!In between legs I’d been doing a bit of research so I knew that there was no chance of the Yeovil mixed team beating us, but I also discovered that Trull Troggers mixed team had won leg 1 and been third on leg 2 and not only that they had a very strong “ringer” running leg 4 for them. Hopes of winning the glory for Maiden Newton began to fade into a possible 2nd place.
The Maiden Newton convoy, which by now consisted of Phil, Ian, Di, myself plus various family members, next gathered at Lower Stratton to send Dave on his way and then to anxiously (on my part at least) await Martin at the end of leg 5. I knew well the pitfalls of this tricky leg having got lost on Ham Hill myself , running for Yeovil in the 2004 event. However Martin came through with flying colours, finishing very strongly in 6th place on a very competitive leg and being the only runner in our team to go under the hour with a time of 59.19. He wasn’t allowed any time to bask in the glory – I bundled him straight in the car as we made a mad dash to North Perrott where we just had time to get a pint at the Manor Arms before cheering Dave past at around the half way mark on the final leg.
With our usual excellent timing we also managed to arrive at Winyard’s Gap and get another pint in before Dave finished. I’m not sure if that says something about how long it took Dave to run up the hill or if it reflects on our amazing turn of speed if there’s a drink involved!! In reality Dave had a great run, knocking over 2 minutes off Phil’s time on this leg last year and bringing the team home in a total time of 6 hours 46 minutes and 22 seconds, a huge improvement on 2005.
We all put at least as much enthusiasm into the post race refreshments as we had into the event itself, whilst waiting with bated breath to hear the results. As expected Trull Troggers were the first mixed team home having beaten us by 16 and a half minutes and we were just pipped at the post by the improbably named “Goldie Locks & the 5 Bears” who finished a mere 2 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of us. We’ll beat them next year!
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7 comments:
I'd just like to point out that I engaged in some crafty tactics on the final hill, of which club members of longer standing would have been proud. That is, I walked until just before the point when I became visible to the watching crowd, at which point I attempted a kind of trot. I was overtaken at the top of the hill by a Yeovil runner, but managed to get back in front of him on the 'sprint' to the finish. The picture of me on the blog shows the state I was in.
If you run leg 5 again next year Dave, we'll be sure to walk down the hill to the corner so we can watch you right from the bottom! We'll just have to be careful not to spill our beer........
Very impressive report on the Trail,all you need to do is start making few things up and changing facts and you could take over writing the minutes for club meetings.(look out Dave she's after your job)
Sounds like a great time was had by all. Lin and Martin are currently enjoying more beers pre Stagger.
Despite Lesley's efforts with the beer we all had a good run. Martin ran a fantastic 2.16 despite horrendous conditions and losing half a contact lens; Richard did an excellent 2.28 considering it was only one week after he had run a marathon and I managed 2.31 which was better than I expected. Did anyone else race this weekend, I forget what else was on? Phil, was that you I saw on your bike the other day when it was raining a little bit?!!
Yes it was me on my bike,was it realy raining!!!. did a 15mile run today, in the rain just for a change.Hope your beer did not get watered down with the rain.
I've just noticed that due to the clock on the blog being totally out of sync with real time, it looks as though Martin and I were drinking beer at 11am (Lesley's post). Whilst I accept that this isn't totally improbable, I would just like to confirm that it was actually about 8pm on Saturday evening.
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