Phil Pounder, November 13th, 2009

This Sunday saw the inaugural race of the Scott Logic Running Club as we competed in the Heaton Harriers Town Moor Memorial 10k race. Four runners from our club took part on the day, with a variety of excuses of different levels of acceptability being offered by the others (you know who you are).

The torrential downpours overnight provided amusing scenes of waterlogged paths with up to three inches of standing water in places, and left the runners deliberating over what would constitute the correct footwear for the race. However, as the morning brightened, so did the team spirit, and by the time we were doing our warm up runs the air was still and it was clear that the weather was providing near to ideal racing conditions.

The meticulous race preparation with particular emphasis on not setting off too fast was cast aside in the early stages as our faster runners attempted to keep close watch on the race leaders, with the first mile being run at under 6 minute mile pace. Whilst this highlighted the disadvantage of starting too near to the front of the pack, our runners who started further back were left to pick their way through the slower runners and getting a far from ideal start (the first of a list of excuses to be used at the end of the race for the eventual race times).

The race progressed well with all of our runners achieving good times at the halfway point. Most of us found the second lap of Town Moor more grueling than the first, with the fourth mile proving particularly challenging. The run in to the finish in Exhibition Park was a fast, downhill stretch, or so we all thought judging by sprinting going on, only to find that the race route tracked back uphill for the last 300 yards or so. Nevertheless a great set of finish of times was achieved, with all four runners setting new PBs ranging from 38.30 to 48.10. Our finish positions in the race of 55th, 76th, 267th and 310th respectively was insufficient unfortunately to qualify us for a team prize, yet we were all inside our target ‘top 500′ finish – and as there were 505 runners on the day, this was never a mathematical certainty!

Overall a great time was had by all, or so we thought once the running was over, and it has left the team hungry for more running competition. Unfortunately the road running season goes into hibernation imminently, so more winter training is in order as we come back leaner and meaner for the 2010 season.