WEDNESDAY 26th MAY
HARROCK HILL (1)
5.2m/900ft
BISPHAM GREEN, WEST LANCS.

Following a painful week of high tempo jaunts around Cuerden Valley Park, traces of a long lost combination of speed and strength began to show signs of life again. A ten miler on the fells this Monday confirmed this rediscovery after what turned out to be a really encouraging run. I clocked a decent time without pushing too hard, descended with a bit of confidence for the first time in months and finished with plenty left in the tank. A seed had now been planted in my head - should I now do the first Harrock Hill race of the series Wednesday night? I ummed and ahhed continuously whether or not to race, weighing up the for's and against's. But had the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about whether or not to race indicated that I had already subconciously made my mind up? Well, about 4pm the decision was made on an officially concious level.
Night racing is one of the joys of summer for me and the Harrock Hill series has become a favourite of mine as eleven appearances over four years testifies. It's not really a fell race, it's a just a multi-terrain hill race with the distinction of 18 stiles and 2 kissing gates to hamper your stride.
Conditions were perfect on a warm and still evening with the biggest turnout I have witnessed in my time at this race. Cars overspilled the Farmers Arms car park and trailed some quarter of a mile up the road. My warm up suggested that climbing was going to be an issue tonight as I could feel my quads burning at the slightest incline. Generally though, there was a bit of freshness about me although as the race progressed into the tougher second half, I lost sight of Paul Muller and David Townsend which I suppose I was expecting to be honest. However I was pleased to finish with a flourish and make a big gain on Wesham's Jason Barlow in the final mile or so to kick past him up the finishing straight and take 8th place. A time of 35:06 was a good minute and a half short of my course best and was never going to be good enough to win me a famous Harrock Hill fruit and veg box. Infact, from twelve races, this one ranked a lowly 10th place with only my first two races back in 2006 recording any slower. However, I could take positives from this race and left without any doubt that a bad run of results had finally come to an end. At the business end of the race, Horwich star James Kevan had clearly set out to have a swipe at Nick Leigh's record of 30:28 and fell just less than half a minute short.
Time: 35:06   Pos: 8th/189