Race report from Rick Pullan:
"Well I finally admitted I was old and entered a vets race at Starbeck near Harrogate. On arrival I found out I could only run as a guest as the club needs to be affiliated ( I think its something we should look into as it's only £12 for a year and we can all run, more details later. ). I paid my £3 and then walked the mile to the start getting very worried as no other runners seemed to be about.
Eventually everyone arrived and 10 mins after the official start time we set off. What can I say about the course - it covered everything: start down a road, then along an old railway, cutting into some fields, through the woods, down some steps by the river with duckboards, tree roots and more steps... some lying sod said it was fast and flat... I nearly killed myself haring down a very steep part before realising I had to make a sharp left, half way down. At one point I was running through nettles with my arms up I the air and still got nettled on the elbow. I think that was the point when I said maybe we were doing the tough guy run. Eventually we came out of the woods and back onto more trails then a mad half mile down the road and under the railway via a subway where I thought I was going to get decapitated because it was so low to the eventual finish on a football pitch. After the race I found out from someone with a Garmin that the course was 5.2 mile completed in 40:06 so I was very happy, having been told that it could be anything from 4.5 to 5+ miles depending on where they sent us it was hard to judge how hard to run.
We got a drink and a mint aero which was a bonus and I ate it on the way to the rather crowded showers. Eventually all clean and smartly dressed I entered the club house where I had been told beer could be purchased and a few sarnies had been laid on. I couldn't believe the spread - it was amazing everything you could want, Pasta, rice, fresh fruit, sarnies buns galore oh and then I found a dish of chips on every table - what more could I ask for??? Oh yes someone then produced about 5 boxes of sweets, so plenty of smarties, rolos etc to eat on the way home, heaven.
The prize giving was good with prizes for the top 3 in each age group and a few spot prizes. I think I can safely say that was the best value race I've ever done and as for the course I loved it even the nettles. Think I want to be a trail runner, roll on the next race. I cant imagine all the races will be that good and the food that profuse but the whole thing is worth doing, hopefully a few more will be able to join me next time."
It sounds great Rick - well done. Think I might need head coverings if the nettles are that height though...
