1 01:04:50 M Tomas Abyu
2 01:06:04 M Mark Miles
3 01:06:08 M Huw Lobb
4 01:08:55 M Benali Naoui
5 01:09:12 M Hassan Raidi
6 01:09:28 M Nalerddine Hallil
7 01:09:40 M Steve O'callaghan
8 01:09:53 M Ivo Zigadlo
9 01:10:06 M Tarus Elly
10 01:10:55 M John Mcfarlane
11 01:13:11 M Steve Hallas
12 01:13:21 M James Buis
13 01:13:27 M Martin Yelling
14 01:13:31 M Darren Treadaway
1947 Finishers
I never really knew what to expect from this race other than to go quicker than the 1:15:15 I did in 2005. The plan though was not to back off from training and just go out there and run hard and see how the legs felt after the hard training built up over the week. I had planned to make Saturday my rest day which was the day before the race, however, I got home from work and my legs felt very heavy! So I made the decision at 8pm to try and spin them out on the turbo trainer for an hour and did 6x6min at a very hi cadence in a low gear and it seemed to do the trick.
I got a good nights sleep and woke to a very sunny day but cold with frost on the car but no wind so it looked like it was going to be a quick day. The race this year really stepped up in class probably due to the prize money on offer for the top 3 and breaking the course records and as you can see from the results a few foreign names and our Commonwealth Games/World Championship marathoners were also up for the challenge.
The gun went and my competitive instinct ruled my head and I decided to go with the leaders and see how the race panned out. I looked down at my watch after the first mile and we clocked 4:50! I knew then that if I didn't back off then I wasn't going to see the finish line. The problem was I was too slow for the leading group and the chasing group hadn't yet formed so for a few miles I was in no mans land with nobody to run with. I did know though by the splits at 2,3,4 miles that I was running well. I hit mile 6 in 33:30 and 4 guys running in a group had caught me and was pleased to see it had taken former international runner and multisport international Martin Yelling this long to catch me which was a big boost. I managed to keep on the back of this group for the rest of the race but couldn't quite catch Martin (next time!). I clocked a PB at 10 miles of 55:50 and my final time was a big PB of 1:13:31 so delighted!
It feels really good to compete at this level with guys who are solely runners and don't have to swim or bike! A cracking field, good race and any other year at Watford I would have been top 5/6! I celebrated the day by going out on the bike for a couple of hours in the afternoon to spin the legs out and still felt good.
Next outing the North Road Hard Riders!
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