SUNDAY 7th NOVEMBER
THROUGH THE VILLAGES RACE
8.5m/Road
WHEELTON, LANCS

This is the one and only tarmac race that I wouldn't miss without a very good reason and so this was my fifth 'Villages' appearance in succession. That statistic pales into insignificance compared to organiser Terry Dickenson's 24 out of 25 and Paul Muller's 20 on the trot, including a few victories down the years. But this one is very local to me, a fast but challenging course and in a nutshell I just enjoy doing it. I was hoping it would sharpen me up for the following weekend when I take on the Tour of Pendle fell race which has been my main focus for the last month.
It was a perfect morning with very little wind and the sun strong enough to clear the early morning frost. Warming up down the canal I felt a bit heavy-legged but it seemed I just needed that warm up to sort things out as I felt more bouyant as we lined up for the start.
As Terry delivered his pre-race rhetoric, including that old chestnut of his; ''Remember if you do think you are going to die, please tell a marshall'', I was scanning the front line and noticed that there was a distinct lack of top local runners who usually take part.
Bolton's Anthony Valentine has made this race his own over the last few years and he wasn't hanging about today either, sprinting away from very early on to give himself a healthy lead that he would maintain unchallenged. After the first mile and a half - an uphill drag to Brinscall - one usually has an idea who you are going to do battle with and with only the Valentine ahead, I was in the company of just Paul Muller, some dangerous looking young whippet in a Blackpool vest and a chap from Buxton, so it became clear that a podium place was well and truly up for grabs this year. Then the short pull up Butterworth Brow really does sort out the stayers from the fast starters and the Derbyshire runner dropped off. With Blackpool's Luke Berry just showing a little inexperience by running in surges, I concentrated on the red vest of the mighty Muller. As we reached Abbey Village though he suddenly put his foot down and put some distance between us. I remembered to just concentrate on my own race and so tried not to get too downhearted that Paul was looking highly likely to get the better of me as usual.
Around the halfway mark I had shaken off the challenge of Luke and was out on my own in 3rd place with only the paranoia of a revival from the Blackpool lad to push me on as Mr Muller was now the best part of a minute ahead. I stuck to my task, felt comfortable and consolidated my position. My finishing time would normally not have scraped me into the top ten at this race, but there was a more confidence boosting statistic that I discovered a few days later -I had infact run my best time at this race and it's a long time since I've raced two course bests in succession. Excuse me whilst I just jig around the room and do the 'I'm on form' dance. Wheeheee!
Time: 49:46    Pos: 3rd/258      

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