The fun never stops

After an entertaining morning of helping out at the Lane Cove 10k (the highlight of which was seeing The Mad Guz gently encourage a duck out of the way as he cruised in for a 32 something 10k), it was down to Scarborough Park, Ramsgate for the 4 x 4km ANSW relays.

I was in the 35+ age group team, one that has been a little problematic for Striders previously, with a little bit of a hole in team members in this age group. As of midweek, we had the returning Leftie, Timinerko, O Runner and myself, and the gradually returning Superflake as the reserve. Sadly, late in the week, Leftie decided discretion was the better part of valour and decided not to chance his achilles, and the 'flake stepped forward into duties.

Got down there at 1:30 or so, fluking a golden parking spot. Had enough time to watch the women's event head out, and at that point it was apparent there was confusion on the part of the hosts as to where the course actually went. This had a bit of a sequel at the start of the men's event, which I missed as I was off galavanting around doing drills to warm up in the fresh and windy conditions, so this is based on what I heard rather than what I observed.

The course was based around 2 laps of the 'back' loop that we did in the novice 10k event last month, but with a little 50 metre out and back extension built in to make up distance. The lead runners started on the other side of the creek near a cricket (apparently a winter sport in Sydney now) ground to make up their distance.

So, when the men started, quite a significant number of them went right after the bridge up the extension, rather than left into the loop proper. I don't know who or how many were affected.

So, seeing 'flake through his halfway point, I pottered over to the amassed second runners and waited. An interesting experience this one, quite different to the track relay as you can't see the runner coming. 'flake eventually appeared after a good honest effort (I think I helped by tagging him right at the start of the change area) and I bolted - there's the big danger in this event, I think, totally bashing the first thirty seconds because of the rush of adrenaline in the change over.

I was a bit nervous about hitting the bridge, as it had a concrete surface and I'd taken a punt on wearing the spikes - I needn't have worried. Aside from a rather loud clack of the spikes on the hard surface, grip was fine. Anyone who's played golf in proper metal spikes will know the sound. I think the spikes were a good call, they felt like I had a definite traction advantage through the loose stuff on the back half of the lap, where it was particularly sandy.

The first lap was just a case of trying to get a feel for where the wind was, and trying not to cash in the bikkies bashing your way into it. It was pretty well into it all the way down to the left turn near the shops at the far point of the loop. I was passing quite a lot of people, and in fact apart from getting lapped by the first and second placed teams, I didn't get passed by anyone.

Photo courtesy of Amjan and Fats

Felt like a good even effort. I think my split was around 14:00 - 14:05, based on a rough split by my watch, difficult given the circumstances of the changeover. Tag to Timinerko went pretty smoothly.

Not sure how the team went, I really only had time for a bit of a cool down with Fats before I had to get away to an appointment back in town. Once I get results I'll post them, but I suspect we'll not be bothering anyone in our age bracket. Still, it was a good fun hit out - I'd actually been looking forward to a short blat on soft ground as a bit of a change from the tarmac events of the last couple of weeks. Don't mind the team events, they're good fun, and it's a different motivation, which can only be a good thing. I know at heart it's an individual sport, but you can only draw from the well so many times at a personal level.