WEDNESDAY 23rd JUNE
HARROCK HILL (2)
5.2m/900ft
BISPHAM GREEN

Anything less than a considerable improvement on last month's time was going to be deemed as completely unacceptable to myself. With more sleep and less work under my belt since Saturday's race I was confident of being a touch sharper than I was at Great Hill and was putting myself under a bit of pressure to perform well on this muggy evening in West Lancashire. 
As we lined up at the start, aside from the figures of Nick Leigh and Andy Buttery, it was difficult to see who else was going to beat me. Those two big boys led the way up the first hill by the quarry and whilst they were not exactly setting the most blistering pace in the world by their standards, it felt good to be no more than forty yards behind them after a couple of miles without having pushed too hard myself. I thought I had left plenty in the tank for the more challenging latter half of the race, but there is a point on this course which catches me out every time no matter how I pace myself. It's just an inoccuous little rise up the side of a field which then drags on for the best part of a mile and once again I started to blow through my backside at this point. Ahead of me the front two had started to press on a bit and now had a good minute over me with Pudsey & Bramley runner Nick now pulling away from Rossendale man Andy. 
Suddenly I picked up the sound of snorting nostrils behind me and this gave me a kick up the bum to get my head down and push on doggedly. My policy is to never look behind during a race, but after a couple of road sections at this point, there is a weighted swinging gate to pass through which clatters shut and always gives away how far the next runner is trailing you. After half a minute or so, rising slightly up a tree lined path, I hadn't heard the gate and was soon enough out of earshot. I didn't let my legs relax but I felt fairly assured of holding my place when suddenly I heard that snort again. I would think it would cost a few seconds to actually stop and close that gate quietly, but that's what the crafty sod must have done! This was the last uphill section of significance and with just a few fields and the descent of Harrock Hill remaining, I really made myself work hard from here and was literally running scared. In the end I opened up a gap of nearly half a minute over the Southport snorter that was Steve Wilkinson and bettered my time in May by almost a minute. I also took a bit of encouragement that I was only just over a minute and a half behind the two frontrunners who finished neck and neck with the P&B man shading it.
Time: 34:12   Pos:3rd/111