From Dan McKeown…
I made a long-overdue return to the Whixley 10k on Sunday, aiming to add to my victories in 2015 and 2019.
The course starts from Whixley Village Hall, follows 2k-plus of road and good runnable track up a mild incline before going through some sloppy fields and woodland, a bit more road, a bit more off-road, then pretty much retrace the first 2k back to the village hall.
It was clear as soon as we set off that I was probably going to take at least the runner-up prize. It was also clear that I’d really have to go some to do any better than that, as the lad in front from Easingwold set a pretty good tempo into the strong headwind from Storm Boelo..
Never one to interrupt the enemy when they’re making a mistake, I parked myself right behind him and held on as best I could. Once we’d turned round at about 4k and had the wind at our backs for a while, I had a go at escaping, but didn’t get very far before I was hoovered up and then dropped.
The other guy did have a bit of a hiccough when the wind in our faces picked up again and I was able to get back on terms, then we had a cessation of hostilities while we clambered over a fallen tree, but it was only a temporary reprieve. He sailed away with about a mile to go, and I was left to limit my losses as best I could, waddling over the line about 25 seconds down, in just over 38 minutes.
As it was a few minutes until third place showed up, I did at least have the minor satisfaction of having made the other guy work for his victory, but even with my dirty fare-dodging tactics, I have to admit I was fairly well beaten. Nonetheless, I pocketed a shop-soiled bottle of vino and a family-size pork pie as my prize for second place, so I’d hardly call it an effort wasted.
(1 Julian Ollive, Easingwold Running Club 37:40)
2 Dan McKeown 38:03
102 ran