Johnny Kipps

Another missed lie-in on Sunday morning as Martin and I headed over to Wynford Eagle at 9.15 to run round the course ahead of the race. Our marathon training called for a long run (20m) today so we were compromising by doing 12 miles, not racing but throwing in marathon target pace miles on the "flat" bits. The plan was to save plenty of energy for the first Yeovilton 5k on Wednesday evening.

The first lap was completed according to plan and we arrived back at Wynford Eagle to find a record attendance eagerly awaiting the start. It was absolutely fantastic to see so many people there, friends from Yeovil, neighbours desperate to curry support for the Sydling Fun Run (18th September - please be there or I'll be in trouble with Di!) not to mention a total of 14 Maiden Newton Runners.

Phil had decided to give the rest of us a chance and also to allow his knee to make a full recovery - after his briefing, Lord Wynford kindly started the race, after assuring us that he is still in touch with Johnny Kipps, who is delighted to know that the race named in his honour not only still takes place but is growing in popularity each year.

As Martin Chaffey had managed to resist stopping off at the car boot sale en route from Yeovil this year we were able to start promptly at 10.30am and as usual Dave Carnell set off at a breakneck pace with Dave Webb hot on his heels in pursuit whilst the rest of us adopted a more leisurely pace. Martin and I settled into our race plan and headed up the hill, running with Richard Blackmore initially, and discussing which of the Dave's we thought would be victorious.

Well the thing with race plans is that you never know how you're going to feel on the day and sometimes you just get carried away by the moment. It was one of those days for me and as we climbed steadily upward I decided that it was time to drop Richard so I upped the pace a little expecting Martin to come with me. By this time Dave Webb had taken the lead and as we continued to climb I found Dave Carnell coming back to me pretty quickly. Martin had obviously decided to stick with the plan so I was a bit worried about how much trouble I would be in later.

As I reached the top of the hill where Jacky was, as usual, kindly "manning" the water station I caught Dave up, so I thought I may as well see if I could psych him out by passing him - that seemed to work pretty well. I was suffering the odd pang of guilt about not sticking to Martin's race plan but then I thought the hell with it - there are 6 Yeovilton 5ks but only one Johnny Kipps, why save my energy?

I was expecting Dave to come back past me at any moment or for Martin to catch me but in the mean time I was enjoying myself so much I decided to stick with the pace. Phil and John were both out on their bikes and gave me some encouragement as they passed me. In fact Phil's detailed information about who was doing what behind me meant I didn't have to display any weakness by turning round to see for myself what was going on!

As I reached the downhill stretch Phil informed me that Martin was gaining on me and then zoomed off leaving me to it. I risked a quick glance or two back as I went down the steepest part, if Martin was going to catch me anywhere it would be here, but as the road levelled out he was still behind me and I sprinted to the line with Charlie's great support and encouragement spurring me on.

Martin finished pretty close behind me, followed by the two Daves, Dave Webb having won that battle, and gradually the rest of the field finished. It was great to see Richard Rider's strong sprint finish and Mike also had a very good run finishing just ahead of Pete. In total there were 29 competitors, even with several members missing due to injury or a certain prominent event next weekend. Results are up at: http://www.freewebs.com/maidennewtonrunningclub/results2011.htm