A very wet Sunday morning saw lots of drivers pulling up in an already soggy field parking up and wondering if we would ever get back out of the field. A quick 5 min dash across the field to the luxury porta loos (as race loos go) and back to the car and my feet were already wet. Race warm up was spent in the car, wondering why why why was I here. I sat in the car till the very last possible moment before stripping off to my club vest, another quick dash to the loo and to the start line with just enough time to find the few fellow HPH who were also mad enough to turn out on such a wet day! A quick hug and we were off!
There comes a point on such a day that you realise you cant possible get any wetter, this happened within the first half mile! Up track, down track, up, round, pass Emmerdale, splish splash, jumping across ditches filled with rain and mud, splosh not quite making the jump, on to a bit of road, back to track very muddy now, down to Eccup, I think I've lost it as I can hear someone calling my name, it's Tom and Helen, heroes stood in the freezing rain cheering everyone on (thank goodness I was still running at this point). The normally ideal running surface of the trail path round Eccup was just an ankle deep stream. It was here I got talking to a Quaker Club Runner called Alan and from here on we ran and chatted about running keeping one another going till we got to the hill, and we both walked a little, ran a little, walked a little and ran some more till we were eventually at the top and to the finish line. John was a gent telling me to sprint across the finish before him but my usual strong sprint finish was reduced to more of a slither and slide across the line to a heart lifting cheer from yet more HPH heroes, Liz J and Jan who had been stood in the rain for I don't know how long, how they were still so cheerful I'll never know but I am ever so grateful! Chris, who had also run was waiting and cheering us on too and Ralph who had nearly lost his joggling balls in several puddles had crossed the line a little while before me. I have to say I was glad of my oversized VLM reject jacket to cover me up as we went to the village hall collected our beer and join Rick and Dave just in time to cheer Dave on as he collected his prize.
Well done everyone for turning out to race in such awful weather!
Madness, absolute madness but worth every raindrop, and the bonus - as the only HPH girl running on the day I collected 130 points!
1 528 Tim Midgley Bingley H M 58.10 1
15 443 Dave Mcguire Hyde Park H M40 65.59 4
123 517 Richard Pullan Hyde Park H M50 81.47 18
124 243 Chris Jones Hyde Park H M50 81.48 19
336 215 Ralph Kidner Hyde Park H M50 110.20 59
341 244 Kay Jefferies Hyde Park H F35 115.08 47
342 496 Alan Prest Quakers R C M60 115.10 17
