A Weekend of Two Races

This weekend I did a couple of things a little different to what I normally do on a weekend. Firstly, I raced both Saturday and Sunday. This is something I’ve only done twice before. Mind you it wasn’t the same as racing both races flat out as the 2^nd thing was that I paced a race. I’ve never, officially, paced a race before, though I was once asked if I would like to pace a group of runners in the Edinburgh 10k, I had to turn it down as I was working that day, so this was going to be a unique experience for me.

So as the title suggests, lets separate this blog into two parts and concentrate on Saturday first. On Saturday Salford were taking part in the 3^rd race of the Manchester Area Cross Country League. I’d run the first one, finishing 39^th and 5^th M45, but missed the second one due to my training trip to Spain. This weekend we were racing in Wythenshawe Park, a place I’ve not visited before. Heading off to the venue I was fairly confident that it would be less muddy than the Heaton Park course, but this illusion was quickly dismissed as I checked out the course, skipping through muddy sections followed by sections of waterlogged grass. There was also a stream crossing, I ‘m wary of stream crossings they always offer an opportunity for a catastrophe to occur. Despite the conditions, which were definitely not to my personal preference, I was feeling oddly confident. I’d perked up as the week progressed and was keen to make a more robust effort in this race than at Heaton Park.

Unfortunately, in the preceding Ladies race one of our Ladies had come a cropper at the stream crossing and had broken her wrist. But I didn’t let this get to me, when I’d surveyed the course I’d leapt over the stream like a gazelle and landed sure footedly. I lined up for the race, right on the front line, but there was no countdown, just the noise of the starter. I was caught mid jiggle (if you don’t know what that means, watch the video) and quickly swamped by a mass of athletes as we headed out on the short lap. I got into my stride and started picking my way through the field, I could see Graham MacNeil and Dave Lockett up ahead of me, both rivals for ‘old man of the week’. And then before I knew it there was a pile up as a group of runners went too wide and hit the tape. I’m sure one went a over t and I could see that Dave had been affected slightly. My poor start meant I had time to adjust my line to avoid becoming embroiled in that. Dave was quickly into his running and pulling away from me at a rapid rate. As I watched him vanish into the distance I waved goodbye to any chance of catching him in the Salford veterans standings for this year’s cross country championships. So I switched all my attention on Graham, it was time to win the battle of the ‘redheads going slightly white’.

As we continued on this first lap I seemed to be matching Graham but not making any headway on the distance between him and me. I was finding it tough as I slipped and slid around parts of the course, there was very little of it that was firm, but I kept my focus on Graham all the same. Despite the slipping and sliding I was making my way through the field and managed to pass my team mate Billy MaCartney on the way to the crowd area. Coming round the encircled crowd was a real fillip, hearing all the Salford mob, and even some of the Vale Royal mob, cheer me on is always uplifting and I seemed to find my stride again. As I crossed the start line, for the start of the first of the two larger laps, somebody shouted I was in 40^th position. Not bad I thought and quickly passed team mate Howard Mead to equal my position from the first match. Now I was on a MacNeil mission, can’t have him beating me, he’s over 50. Not only that but there were 3 Wilmslow runners, who all looked like they were masters, lined up ahead of me. They’re a strong masters club so I couldn’t afford to let all 3 finish ahead of me.

This was the lap we encountered the stream for the first time but I picked my spot and landed perfectly and up the other side without a hitch, just as another Wilmslow athlete came past me. I latched onto him and it was a good move as he dragged me round past his team mates and I’d got the better of Graham at last. I felt good but, hang on a minute, wasn’t that Dave up ahead. Still with a gap but it now seemed achievable, especially as I had this Wilmslow youngster helping with my pacing. Back round to the crowd and more cheering, I was still with the Wilmslow guy and Dave was getting closer. A few hundred metres later I’d pushed for it, seeing Dave up close I’d made my move to pass him, uttering some encouragement as I passed, after all he is a team mate. I also seemed to drop the Wilmslow guy but just before the stream crossing he’d gone back past me.

As we came to the stream the Wilmslow guy leapt and was away. My attempt was a little less graceful as I jumped like a buffalo shot mid flight by Bill Cody. I landed with my right foot ankle deep in mud and as I tried to move forward I fell forward smothering my knuckles in mud. By the time I scrambled back up the Wilmslow guy was long gone and I had a group of runners, including Dave, hot on my tail. I got back into my stride and pushed for home. Entering the woods I took a sneak back to see where Dave was and nearly missed the turn, but once out of the woods it was plain sailing, although I did have a fast finishing Tom Bush hunting me down. I finished 29^th, 3^rd M45, and my win over Dave gives me a fighting chance in the Salford champs.

All in all I felt I ran well, the two M45s to finish ahead of me were over a minute clear of me but that doesn’t actually concern me as much as you’d think it would. I know there’s a lot more to come and the cross country is just a stepping stone for me. My victory over Dave was fortunate, I don’t think he was at his best on the day, but it does give me a little hope for the rest of this championship year. As a team we’d done well, but we can do better. Home for a shower, my kit was straight into the washing machine and it took me 20 minutes to get all the mud off my legs.   

It had been a reasonably mild day but overnight the temperatures dropped, far from perfect for an early morning start on Sunday. Sunday was the day I was due to pace Lee Riley to his 6^th world record as he tried to duck under 46:04 in the Wrexham 10k (carrying his 40lb pack). I was to be at Lee’s for 8:30 but as I scraped the ice off my windscreen and stretched my aching legs I wondered if I’d be any use to Lee at all and wouldn’t it be more sensible to go back to a warm bed. Still a commitment is a commitment and I never let anyone down. So I set off through the icy back lanes and arrived at Lee’s in plenty of time. The rest of the team were already there; Jacqui (designated driver, sandwich maker, holder of the scales and Lee’s publicist) and Llorenc Sales Ferre (a young Spanish athlete from Stoke AC who would act as 2^nd pacemaker and cameraman).

Off we headed for Wrexham, but as we drew close the sky turned darker and there were occasional showers. A quick circuit of the course, in the car, showed it was relatively flat, a bit narrow in places but a good surface, however there was one bit still affected by the flood that had occurred the previous week, giving us a big puddle to traverse with muddy patches just after it.

Back to the club house we went through all the admin of setting a world record, weighing, photographing and the witnessing of everything by officials from the club. I have to say the race officials were very helpful and willingly gave up their time during a period that was very busy for them. I’d worked out all the k splits for our attempt, based on beating 43 minutes (Lee’s goal) but also what it would take to beat 46 minutes, which was all we really needed to do, but there were no k markers, only mile markers. Still 7 minute mile pace would give us 43:something so that was all we needed to achieve.

And then it was time to head to the start. A minor issue as we struggled to get Lee’s pack as tight as possible but we got there in the end. The organisers had allowed us some space at the start, which was much appreciated but as the race set off we did find it difficult to settle into position for the first mile as it was quite congested. We didn’t panic and settled into a pace which seemed quite comfortable and yet fast enough. I’ll point out here that I didn’t use a garmin, I like to run how I feel and I’ve worked with Lee for some time now, gaining a good understanding of how he’s running. I knew he’d gone off too quickly during his 5k record, only a few weeks ago, and suffered for it towards the end, but I was feeling confident Lee could handle this pace. Still even I was a bit surprised when we went through the first mile marker in 6:19.

Oh well no point in worrying about that now, I checked how Lee felt, he said he was good. We still had a good way to go but we settled down, I put the faster first mile down to having to accelerate as we passed a number of people who had gone off too fast. I felt the 2^nd mile was slower and more consistently paced, and it was, 6:21. Wow, we were 1 minute 20 ahead of a schedule that would see us smash the official world record, so we had plenty in hand. Still if Lee felt good lets keep it up. At this point Lee was thinking sub 40 but I told him to wait until 4 miles before considering that, I felt if we pushed too hard now we would lose it all in the last two miles.

Lee did feel good but that 3^rd mile was slower at 6:46. Still not complaining it was still faster than our schedule. At all these mile markers Llorenc would sprint forward to the marker and film Lee and myself crossing the line, he’d then get me to shout the time into the video recorder. There was no marker for 5k, which was a bit of a shame, but I’m confident we were close to Lee’s world record time for that distance, and I wasn’t worried we were going too fast. Lee was looking good, sure it was hurting and there were signs of fatigue but I could see that Lee was on for this, he had his race face on.

During the next mile we passed through the puddle and the muddy patches but still Lee forged on and although slowing, slightly, it was still a sub 7 min mile. I can’t recall exactly what the time was for this mile, I was too busy providing motivational pep talks to Lee to let it sink in. However, with just over two miles to go we were around two minutes ahead of schedule.

The 5^th mile proved a tough one, Lee went outside of the schedule, 7:05, but we still had plenty in reserve on our schedule and then a further 2 minutes and more on the official world record, so we could afford this. Lee was looking tired, I could see that he was working hard to maintain pace and I was a little worried that he could run out of steam, but this wasn’t a marathon and, although I don’t know how it must feel to be carrying that weight around, surely we couldn’t drop more than 3 minutes in the next mile and a bit. Even so I wasn’t going to chance it, I gave Lee every bit of motivation I could, all the stuff I know that works for me when times are tough.

Lee rallied, we reached the 6 mile point with a 7:01, surely we couldn’t fail now. I urged him on over those final 346 metres, making sure it was a sustained effort rather than an all out kick too early. As we reached the line Llorence and I drifted to the side, we didn’t want to get in the way of the timekeepers or mess up other runners times and we certainly didn’t want a post 41 minute 10k time attributed to our CV’s (at least not yet), but we heard the officials shout out 41:24 as Lee passed the line. A fantastic New World Record, breaking the previous one by 4 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s Lee’s 6^th different world record distance, I haven’t kept count of how many he’s actually taken, he’s broken his own time on occasions, but of course he still holds all 6 distances at the same time (400m, 1 mile, 5000m, 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon).

Apart from the time I paced Lee, in a time trial, to equal the mile world record, which he subsequently broke, this was my first time pacing Lee to a new world record. I have to say it felt good to be a part of it, I’ve been working with Lee on these records for about two years now and we’ve become quite close. It means a lot to me to see Lee achieving each one, though usually I’m away when he does them, so it was particularly good to be a part of this record attempt. We went through all the post race weighing and officialdom, once again thanks to the officials for their assistance and then it was off to consider what next!

The video will be edited and Lee will be posting it on youtube, along with those of Lee’s achievements that are already there. Plus the Wrexham 10k organisers can boast that it had a world record set on their course.     

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk