Matt and I decided that it was time to see what a year without any competitive events had done to our racing ability, so we entered the Nice Work Woodchurch 10 mile on Sunday 18th. This is only the second year that this has been run and it’s a low-key, local village kind of affair. The event had a limit of 500 people for either the 5 mile or 10 mile race and I know that this wasn’t reached.
As people have mentioned on previous race reports, racing in this new world is different, but it feels very safe thanks to the extensive planning by the organisers. It’s a novel way of racing but for those of you, who get really nervous at the start of a race as everyone is checking out the opposition (that’s most of us women) and discussing our injuries, this is a great way to reduce this anxiety! I enjoyed starting in a wave of 6, with a wave 2 minutes in front and another wave 2 minutes behind. This system gave you someone to chase while motivating you trying to reduce the number of people passing you.
As for the course, it was exactly as promised. Undulating … but not in a bad way. A few hills, not too challenging but enough to make it interesting with a largely downhill finish which we all love. Before you knew it, you had completed a a 5 mile lap and then it was repeat as above after hearing the loud support from none other than Di Bradley who needs no introduction. It couldn’t really be October without hearing from our favourite TAC member!
As for the results part, well that’s the odd part about post-COVID racing. Matt and I drove home after discussing how much we enjoyed the morning, enjoyed a Sunday roast and a walk with friends. Later that night, our 13 year old looked up the results to announce “Mum, you were first lady and Dad you came 20th!” No presentations or glory moments but that’s not why we run. Given the fact that the majority of people’s medals broke within 5 minutes of getting them, I’m not too sure that a trophy (had I received one) would have taken pride of place on a shelf… but we’ll never know!
I highly recommend giving a local race a try if you are keen to try out your speed and aren’t doing one of the TWH Sunday runs or another virtual run (Yawn!).
Results
5 mile: (139 finishers)
1. Louis Small (Ashford and District) 25:28
3. Dan Bradley (TAC) 25:59
1. Rian Shrimplin (Ashford & District) 34:08 (1st lady)
10 mile: (127 finishers)
1. Samuel Evans (Kent AC) 55:55
20. Matt Clements 1:09:38
24. Pru Clements 1:12:24 (First lady)
Hope to see you all soon,
Pru and Matt Clements