Dorstone Dawdle

A 10km multi-terrain race turned out to be more like 9km road race, of which barely 3km was probably common and green lanes. Wye Valley predominated, to the extent that even Gary P was inadvertently enrolled into their ranks, according to the results. 80 runners set off from the village centre, along fairly flat lanes, until we started to climb up to the ridge above Dorstone, and the climbing seemed to go on and on, before a more varied descent back to the finish, partly on road, partly stony tracks, as gentle rain fell to provide some cool. Gary P had a great race, 4th, in 39.58 (and 1st MV45), some 3 minutes behind the winner, James Smith of Black Pear Joggers. The 2nd MV45 (so young!) was none other than our own Nigel T, who was 4th overall, in 40.55. Two great results. Antony (32nd, 47.19) is making a good comeback, and just managed to stay ahead of the sprightly Frank, one place behind, in 47.45. Behind them came the old men: Gary G (46th, 50.13) found the road hard on his sprained ankle, but coped surprisingly well on the uneven surfaces. He finished a whisker behind me (44th, 50.01), but 4th MV65 in a field which included 10 OAPs. Tom was a little further back in 59th (53.50). We just made it home before the heavens opened, and lightning struck Pen y Fan, scene of this weekend’s fell race.