SW Vets 10k Championship

... or Harriers supervets to the fore again.

Portland - 14th October 2007

"Come on Jim, it's only 12 minutes to the start". The 'isle' of Portland is a most interesting place for a race. Portland has two claims to fame, first the large prison, and second the number of quarries mining the famous Portland Stone. Apart from that nothing much really. There are cliffs all around, so once up on the plateau the views are stupendous. Warming up and being able to see 'down' in every direction makes one wonder 'just how hilly is this race going to be'? And yes, Jim arrived with a few minutes to go so any thought of a warm up -- on, it must be admitted one of the lovely June days we did not experience this year -- was out for him.

So a quick line up and off on-time at 11am, running towards the aformentioned prison. Roger found himself in a very unaccustomed postion after the first kilometer of 2nd on the road, with Ian Barnes from Poole (now just 60) tracking him. John has already broken clear of the V70 field, and Jim was vainly trying to warm up whilst looking around for the other V65s in the field.

Basically the first 5k is downhill, and some pretty fast 3k and 5ks must have been run by quite a number of the field. But in all our minds was the climb back to the top. The turn at around 5.5k saw a quick right, and a couple of hundred metres 'up'. It proved pretty tough on everyone. It was here that Roger finally lost Ian, and John and Jim started to exert themselves in their categories.

From the 6k to the 9k marker it was basically a long drag up the hill, followed by a quick blast down toward the finish, and then an uphill last 400 metres.

The winner, Mark Pittaway (V/45) from the Portland Club ran a creditable 35:20, with Ian B nearly three minutes behind in 2nd (1st V/60) in 38:12. A quite breathtaking time for a V/60 on that course. Roger came in a further minute-and-a-half down, 3rd on the road but only 2nd V/60 in 39:55 [and felt that was a minor triumph]!

After his disappointing time in the Brixahm 10k last weekend (45:34), John P stormed home on a much more difficult course in 43:41 and 1st Vet/70 -- 6th overall in the field. Jim, by now having warmed through, and proving too hot for the rest of the V65 field came in in 50:18 and 1st Vet/65.

So three Exmouth athletes, and two golds and a silver to show for it; an excellent return.

(RR)

PS... not only was it hilly, but the temperature got up to 22.5 by the finish... it did feel like June!