I’ve been eligible for these races for 8 year’s now, qualifying age was 40 when I first became a Master, however, I’ve only taken part on three occasions. My first opportunity was in 2005, it was held in Bangor, Northern Ireland, but I was only a few days back from a break in Australia and I had thought I wouldn’t want to run that close to travelling after a holiday where I couldn’t guarantee training to the max, so I didn’t bother entering. Shame really as I came back from Australia in great shape, then a few days after the race I tore my hamstring. The field was really strong but I was in one of those periods where I was running with total confidence and I would no doubt have been aiming for a win, where I would have finished, nobody knows but I would have been up at the sharp end, at least for some of the race.
In 2006 I was unsettled in Edinburgh, I’d hardly raced since I moved up towards the end of 2005, but I was training well on my own and reasonably confident with my form, though not as confident as the previous year. I stopped down in London over the Friday night and team mate, Mikey Boyle, drove me down to Bournemouth for the event. Herne Hill had a strong team out and I was keen to make my mark. I set off at a good pace and joined my team mate, Dave Robinson, at the front, alongside Greg Hull and Brian Rushworth. But the night shifts and travel took it’s toll and I drifted back through the field. It was painful watching runners, I knew I could beat, pull away from me, but although I saw my personal ambition fade away I dug in deep for the team. Greg Hull won the race, from Brian Rushworth. Dave Robinson just managed to hold off a posse of Bristol & West runners for 3rd. I finished in 18th. With team mates Mikey Boyle in 20th and Tony Harran in 26th we came away with team silvers, behind a very strong Bristol & West and just ahead of a very good Sunderland team.
I missed the 2007 event because I was competing in the European Masters indoor champs, which was on the same weekend. Thankfully I came away from that event with a team bronze in the cross country event (which didn’t take place indoors), making it worthwhile missing the BMAF champs.
 |
| Me and my mate Mikey Boyle await our medals in Helsinki |
I missed 2008 because I’d had an injury during the winter and just didn’t feel I could justify travelling to the event. I was also probably working a nightshift weekend which would have meant taking 4.5 days annual leave for one race, and then only if there were enough staff on to cover my absence.
2009 I was starting to run reasonably well but this was also the time I was training to become a Personal Trainer so something had to give, it was the trip to Wales that went.
After three non appearances it was good to get back into the race in 2010. Now living and working in Cheshire I had no distractions from nightshift and I was running pretty well. I hadn’t had much of a racing winter, having my two teams, Herne Hill and Edinburgh AC, almost equidistant between my new home and really too far away to justify travelling to when I had other things to concentrate on, so I wasn’t sure of my form when I entered the event. In fact I wouldn’t have bothered but there appeared to be a lot of interest within the Herne Hill team, so I entered to give the team a chance at medals again. In the weeks before the event our team fell apart and it was only myself and Francis Marsh, who I was staying with, who turned up on the day. In that same period my own form had blossomed with good runs at the Alsager 5 and the Trafford 10k, I was once again in the mood for an attempt on the championship, at least to be 1st M45. The race was held in Northern Ireland, on the Stormont estate. I love running there, I’d run well there when I was representing Scotland in the Masters International, over a slightly different course, and when I saw how dry it was I was really confident. I took my usual steady start, letting people drift ahead of me, but, thinking this was a fast course, I started moving through the field before the first corner. I had one of the best runs of my career coming in 5th overall and 2nd to Brian Rushworth in the M45s, my last lap had been feisty with only overall winner, Dave Morwood, running quicker. It was a great result for me, 2nd in a BMAF championship, something that I would match a few months later on the road, and not that far behind some great athletes. Even better I beat a number of runners; Alan Murchison, Paul Carroll, Francis Marsh and Alec Woods, whom I wouldn’t normally expect to beat over the country. The only downside was that more people didn’t turn up, 15 seconds behind Brian Rushworth and 50 seconds ahead of, 3rd placed, Peter Knight, I was sure I could have competed well against the best of the M45s on that day.
 |
| Couldn't quite catch that M35 but happy with an M45 silver. |
In 2011 it was a different story, I’d been injured for a good deal of the cross country season and only made my comeback about 3 weeks before, which I covered with my 1st ever blog. It was obvious I wasn’t fit, 500th in the National Cross Country followed by a 17:25 parkrun at Heaton Park, but I wanted to compete again and having seen the small turn out the previous year I wanted to support the event. My lack of fitness showed as I was over 3 minutes behind overall winner, Salford’s Martin Cox, and a good minute behind my, now, Salford team mates, Dave Lockett and Mike Deegan. I finished 17th M45, 53rd in the race.
In 2012 I was all set to run, in Bath, then a few days before the event I put my back out.
And so to 2013, I’d been looking forward to this year’s event. My first full cross country season since 2008/9 and I was running pretty well, if not spectacular. Salford were up for it and we had a great chance to win numerous medals, just like at the cross country relays. Unfortunately my damaged Achilles meant I had to let the team down and missed the bus. But my Salford team mates did us proud. Eric Williams was best placed individual, taking the M55 gold, while Dave Lockett took the M45 bronze, Stan Owen the M60 bronze and Arthur Walsham the M80 bronze. Four of our teams took medals; gold for the M55s, silver for the M65s and bronze for the M35s and the M45s.
It was also good to see a number of my masters friends and rivals turning out good performances, I hope to be doing the same next year.
There’s nothing much to say with regards to my injury, other than it’s still there, so I’m going to stop mentioning after this blog. It’s not as painful but it is becoming a bit of a pain, particularly as it’s keeping me from the sport I love. This is where patience is important, but I have a small problem, as it’s not painful unless I put weight on it in a particular way, it’s easy to forget about when I’m with clients. Well what’s the problem with that I hear you ask, simple, because I’m always introducing new exercises to clients I do a lot of demonstrations and sometimes in the heat of the moment I forget there are some things I can’t demonstrate explosively, until the pain kicks in. Here’s to the next week and the next, until the day I can run those first steps.
Written by Roger Alsop
No comments:
Post a Comment