On what must have been the hottest morning of the year (so far!), 16 Crofties tackled the Caplor Hill race, which this year was run the other way round (clockwise), meaning we climbed about 280m up to the hill, then back down and finished more or less on the flat along the river. With Covid restrictions still in force, we set off in waves of ten, with the fastest going first, over a period of 13 minutes. This largely avoided congestion at stiles and on narrow paths.
I imagine everyone set off carefully, with the heat in mind. (It was 31 degrees in the car on the way home, so possibly 28/29 while we were running) The climbing was relatively gradual, with a certain amount of shade. By common agreement though, crossing two hay fields was probably the hardest – soft underfoot and always the chance of catching your feet in loose hay. The drinks station at the top was very welcome, if only to have water to pour over your head. That led to a descent on a road, followed by a steeper descent through trees to the river path. Early on there was a bit of shade, but also short steep climbs, then finally, with perhaps two miles to go, just fields exposed to the full heat of the sun. After a while I found myself setting a target ahead where I’d walk a bit, and take a sip of water, then stagger on till my next walking break (sometimes not reaching my scheduled stopping point), until finally the path swung right and there was the dreaded final climb up to the finish.
From the finish there was still a half mile walk back to the registration field, and the bliss of water and a banana. Followed by another half mile back to the car in the full glare of the sun – I only half jokingly asked people to look out for a desiccated skeleton when they were to follow some time later.
Croft achieved a healthy number of age category firsts, and Eric had a magnificent run to finish 2nd (in the adjusted results), behind winner Ross Matthews.
Eric 44.45 2nd 1st SM
Nigel 53.52 17th 1st M55
David M 62.07 32nd
David B 63.01 38th
Jo 65.28 44th 1st F50
Guy 70.13 56th 1st M75
Sam 70.35 58th 1st F45
Flora 72.26 61st 2nd F55
Roland 73.01 63rd
Gary 76.00 71st 2nd M75
Huw 78.28 74th
Bronwyn 81.50 77th
Ben 86.30 82nd
Clare 93.42 90th
Bryan 117.04 100th 1st M80
Tom 117.05 101st
