West District X-C Championship

The West District Championships on Saturday had all that cross-country should have: atrocious weather and lots of mud.  The weather was proper cross-country weather: driving rain and a biting wind.  Pat, Sharon, Leanne and I huddled in the sports hall for as long as possible before making for the start.  Credit due we did a ‘warm up’ jog although it didn’t seem to warm anything up.  And then, chat over, gun went and we were off…..

Three laps of a muddy flat(ish) course, I really enjoyed it.  Although starting like a slug, I tried to get faster for the second lap.  It worked, but I got carried away and lost it a bit: suddenly the headwind seemed stronger, the mud seemed slidier, the legs heavier.   After a few minutes of dawdling at a slower pace I imagined Dave Calder’s reaction to such slacking.  So last lap, spurred on by shouts from the Westies men, some effort was made to run ‘all-out’ knowing the end was in sight.   Leanne, Pat and Sharon finished soon after, all of us caked in mud.

The men had to do four laps, I bravely ventured out of the coffee shop to see them finish!  James C, David R, Ian T, Rod F, Alastair D, John Q, Don R made up the muddy mens team.  John Q and Don making it a duathalon by doing laps of a nearby pond to get rid of the mud.

Results for all were sent out by Chris almost sooner than we had finished running!