Cut this one a bit fine. Picked up Andy from St Ives on the way with Charlie, Mags and Claudia in the back. Had no idea what I'd do with them while I was racing but packed their scooters and they seemed to entertain themselves nicely on the Uni of Newcastle campus. We arrived with 10mins to spare. Dicky P had registered the teams so just time to strap on the timing chips. I was running last leg so had time for a couple of laps warm up.
Great race with the Opens, Over 35's and Under 18's mens all running together. In the Over 35's, Sutherland were once again our main rivals but we were also a bit nervous about beating the Under 18's Striders team as a few of those young 'uns are pretty quick over 4km.
Fats was off first but was always going to struggle running against the in-form Kevin Robertson from Sutho who ran a very quick 12:28. Fats came in in 12:59 after going out hard on the first lap. Andy was next, overtaking the Sutho runner and putting some time into him, running a good 13:14 despite niggling achilles issues. Dicky P was third leg running a solid 13:40 but had Nick Bennett from Sutho chasing him down and putting 17s into him. This left me against Andy Cross on the final leg. I thought that I might have a few seconds on him but was wrong, never bridging the gap and Andy in fact ran 3s quicker - a 12:40 to my 12:43. Not a bad hit out running solo (and 4s quicker than last year) but need to continue the speed sessions.
Then Andy and I joined Charlie and Mags running the 2km fun run. Charlie smashed it this year and Mags ran the whole way, even sprinting to the line to beat a young boy despite the fact she was almost crying with fatigue. Sometimes I worry I push them too hard but they both seemed stoked afterwards.
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