From Nigel Illingworth…
Sunday started with fog over the Cringles as Mike Williams and I met up at Addingham to get ourselves into Leeds City Centre. With heavy rain forecast, it was never going to be an easy day.
We met the crowds (around 3,750 entrants) on the Headrow and Millennium Square. The forecast rain had started by then, leaving us sheltering with only a short, reluctant warmup.
Mike and I split to find our starting pens, with me walking back to optimistically keep the 50 mins pacers in sight.
There were several minutes between the gun and the start line, but it was then surprisingly uncongested as we head off from the Town Hall, under the elevated roads and settled onto the Kirkstall Road. Initially, I was gaining on the pacers, but the pace was unsustainable.
It is a straight, wide and largely flat out-and-back course that attracts many seeking PBs. They were some gentle ups and downs through Kirkstall, and we could soon see the turning point of Kirkstall Abbey.
The out-and-back gave a good chance to spot other Harriers (17 of us in the results), plus allowed me to gauge that I was still much nearer the 50 mins pacers than the 55 mins. This pushed me briefly to find a higher pace as we turned, but again not sustained as Leeds came back into view. There were periods of heavy rain on the return, with standing water being the challenge.
I was very happy with a chip time of 52m23s – around a minute-and-a-half better than my previous 10k PB at Bradford, five weeks previously. Mike Williams achieved a hugely impressive 42m43s – another PB. We both head off for a celebratory coffee and pastry in Victoria Place.