Race Date: Sunday 1st December 2019

Feeling somewhat miffed that the BF had bagged an entry for the Percy Pud for himself and a friend and not me, I entered Edwinstowe trail 10k. Really just because my mate across the road always has a boozy post Percy Pud party and I needed justify the prosecco and pringles.

It was to be my first race in 6 months due to a well publicised poorly ass. The muffin top had come along nicely, but having entered Manchester marathon on badly judged whim, I felt as though I needed to crack on. Expectations at a minimum I drove with my friend Margo on a bitterly cold and icy morning to the pretty village of Edwinstowe in North Notts.

Registered, toileted, tedious compulsory conversations about footwear/headwear/base layers and club vests done, we duly joined the 532 gathering of santas, puddings and unidentifiable festive creatures in knee length stripy socks at the start line.

The gun went off and we streaked across the grass and up the first incline in to Sherwood forest. The race route was an undulating, boxy figure of eight and really lovely on such a crisp sunny morning.

Surprisingly I found myself acknowledging shouts of ‘second lady’ within the first few hundred metres. I felt fine so I decided to bimble along at what felt like a sustainable pace. I’d raced against the leading lady before, she was faster than me when I was fit, so unless she’d massively overindulged the previous evening there was fat chance of me hanging on. I also expected to be overtaken by a deluge of young skinny things in highly inappropriate (considering the conditions) very short, shorts at any given moment so I didn’t get too excited about a podium finish.

As the race progressed I started to thoroughly enjoy myself … my poorly ass was behaving and I was slowly working my way up the field. Underfoot it was pretty much what you’d expect of a winter woodland trail race – single track and fire trail with the usual muddy patches, pockets of ice, uneven surfaces and slippy leaves to negotiate.

The tinsel clad marshals were full of Christmas cheer as they directed us around the course. Kilometre signs appeared to be accurately placed so I didn’t bother looking at my Garmin. I can’t read it without my specs anyway so it’s pretty much rendered useless until I’ve uploaded the data!

With about a kilometre to go I started think I’d be blinkin glad to see the finish line. I’d managed to hold on to second place and was relieved when a glance over my shoulder revealed that the close proximity panting belonged to a tall bearded gentleman, that or a lady with a strikingly impressive menopause beard, but I ruled out the latter on the basis of height. I really didn’t fancy an ‘eyeballs out’ finish to what had been a jolly lovely return to the race scene!

Garmin data revealed a total ascent of 400 metres, I was a little surprised as it hadn’t felt like that much … although Margo with her very bad, bad back said that it blinkin well did. Actually she didn’t say blinkin .. but this report is for public consumption so I’ve used poetic licence. My finish time was 42.50 which I was pleased with all things considered. I was even more pleased with the bottle of Prosecco I acquired at the presentation. I did ask for one for Margo too, but seemingly the Christmas cheer didn’t extend that far.

It was great to bump into fellow Striders Susan Braddock and Sarah Percival. Together we made up a small, but outrageously attractive club representative.

To summarise, a great race, great fun, great marshals and I’d def do it again 😊

The winning man was Gareth Lowe in a time of 35.08 and the winning lady was Helen Burrell in a time of 41.45.

Striders Results: