Sixteen of us took the first opportunity of the season to pit ourselves against the iconic Parliament Hill course, although for once it was lacking the iconic mud.
As team manager I suppose that is my responsibility to find out and then tell the team how many laps we have to run, but in the absence of any maps or anyone to ask I failed in my duties and I was not the only one running the third lap being unsure as to whether it was the last. Our slower runners had the benefit of being lapped on their third lap and so knowing that they must have a fourth to go (if they were thinking straight) but those that were at least a bit quicker were left wondering. As it was I was enjoying the run so much that I was actually quite pleased to discover that I had to go round a fourth time, but I am not sure that everyone else felt the same.
Dean Lacy’s form continues to move in the right direction with a 9th place. The team of four came 14th out of 35 and was completed by James MacDonald, Dom Fiore (having a particularly good run) and Christian Poulton. There were good runs too from Ian Miller and Gregg Lemos-Stein both of whom broke the three hour barrier for the marathon for the first time in the past month.
Anyone disappointed to have missed this one can make amends when the South of England Championships are held at the same venue (26th of January), hopefully there will be some mud by then!