65 FOR IZZI: Grasmere Gallop 10K Trail Race

NUMBER 1, FIRST V60

Race No. 14 AND MY FIRST PRIZE

It was back to the Lake District for number fourteen in the challenge, The Grasmere Gallop 10K Trail Race.
The night before the race Maisie and I camped by the river again at Setmabanning, in what turned out to be a wild night of galeforce winds. I could have done without the lack of sleep that this caused, for I had only just declared myself free of a cold and I was looking ahead to one of my landmark races, the Blaydon Race, on Tuesday.
Chris had also entered, so it was father and son again as we lined up at the muster point on the showfield in Grasmere.
"It's a mass start, so faster runners to the front" called the race starter as hundreds of runners, nordic walkers ( whatever they are) and fun runners formed up behind a piper to march into the centre of Grasmere to the startline.
Chris and I lined up near the front and away we went as kiddies in the fun run sprinted past before running out of puff after the first hundred yards. Settling into my normal (too fast) starting pace of just over six minute miling I told Chris to go ahead as I wanted to see how I felt before settling into a pace.
After about a quarter of a mile the road starts climbing and keeps going up, eventually reaching the road sign 'LOW GEAR NOW'. At this point Chris was still in sight and we were 'marshalled' onto the main, off road section, still climbing. Now I was in to my element for what I lost to the youngsters (everyone under 65 years) on the uphills, I gained on the downhills, for no one is daft enough to sprint them , as I do ( I have the scars, literally, to prove it) .
This is a pleasure, I thought, as we passed Grasmere Lake, and climbed up to see Rydal Water from above, beautiful. All too soon we reached the turn back for Grasmere. Looking ahead, I could see that I had pulled a lot of places back on Chris and there were only four places between us, could I catch him?
"Oh! where did that cruel climb come from? " I thought as a short, steep hill appeared. Then it was another down hill sprint to the lake and perhaps a mile along the lake shore before the final climb back up to the road (in total 659 feet of climb). Now it was a downhill dash back into Grasmere with a runner in front to catch! As we turned to pass the famous Gingerbread shop I caught him, but he put in a sprint to get away from me again as we entered the showfield and headed to the finish.
"Peter, you're first V60 " cried the timekeeper as I went through the line, " Yessssssss! " Roared I, as I came to a halt in admiration of the benefits of computerisation ( well something like that).
Looking at the results, Chris was 16th (8th in his category) in 47.41. I was first V60 in 50.12 - 25th overall out of 305 runners. Yes, trail racing suits me, for what I may have lost in speed I can make up in sheer doggedness ( plus daftness) on the rough ground.
The bottle of wine was a nice prize to receive and as the first in this challenge much appreciated.
Bring on Blaydon!