A good BvH turnout for Grand Prix race number 11, a race run along the canal tow- paths from Wolverhampton train station to Brindley place. The organization seemed very laid back but we set off spot on time. The start is time trial style with seeding based on your predicted time. This means that you can get into your race pace very fast but you end up running a lot of the race on your own. Like many people my main concern prior to the race was the heat. I had done a run at 1100hrs on Thursday to get a feel for the temperature and had struggled. As it turned out it was a lot cooler that I had expected and so I reduced my planned a pace of 7:15min/mile to 6:45min/mile.
I was very lucky to start off with Stuart Pearson who set out at pretty much exactly that pace so I tucked in behind him – it was the only free ride I got during the race. After a few miles Stuart dropped off the pace so I pushed on alone. The famous tunnel was nothing so much, it was light enough to see the railings but unfortunately I got stuck behind a very timid runner and before I knew it Stuart was back on my shoulder pushing hard.
After that I got back into a good rhythm, catching the runner in front, sticking behind them for a while to catch my breath then pushing on. I held my planned pace according to my Garmin but (presumably due to cloud cover or bridges) I squeezed in 1.25miles between the 9 and 10 mile marker. I pushed a bit harder from mile 10 onwards but the bridge crossings and ups and downs stopped me holding a pace that would get me back on schedule and I missed my planned target of 1h30 by a few seconds.
Handy finishing in Brindley place as I was able to share a couple of nice cool recovery drinks (?!?) with Stuart and some sweaty mess who I assume was Mike Scotney.
Mike Berry
Race website here (results & photos)
| Pos |
# |
Name |
Cat |
Club |
Event time |
11 65 MIKE BERRY M-30-39 BOURNVILLE 01:30:17
24 75 STUART PEARSON M-40-49 BOURNVILLE 01:33:49
54 801 MIKE SCOTNEY M-30-39 BOURNVILLE 01:37:51
57 205 CHRIS JOHNSON M-40-49 BOURNVILLE 01:38:18
153 215 KARL ROBERTS M-40-49 BOURNVILLE 01:47:47
198 901 JAMES GITTINS M-ERR BOURNVILLE 01:51:32
265 888 SIMON NEWMAN M-30-39 BOURNVILLE 01:56:24
359 580 PRIMO ZAVOLI M-60+ BOURNVILLE 02:03:47
362 447 DUNCAN ROSS M-40-49 BOURNVILLE 02:03:56
418 860 SHARON WELDON F-40-49 BOURNVILLE 02:08:32
419 856 MARK LYNOCK M-40-49 BOURNVILLE 02:08:34
424 576 NICOLA MORRIS F-30-39 BOURNVILLE 02:09:25
460 573 LESLEY PROCTOR F-40-49 BOURNVILLE 02:12:08
496 694 HILARY ROBERTS F-30-39 BOURNVILLE 02:16:06
506 483 LESLEY BYRNE F-40-49 BOURNVILLE 02:16:38
