Sunday 17 October 2021 - The Knutsford 10K race

This morning Sue and I drove in rain to join a traffic jam outside Over Peover. Cars from various directions were trying to access just one entrance to Radbroke Hall, the run HQ and start and finish point.

Eventually, Sue got her running kit on and jogged under my waterproof for a mile or so to claim her number and reach the starting area in plenty of time.

The rain stopped shortly before the start of the race, so conditions were excellent for running.

After a five minute delay to help those stuck in the traffic, the race started at 9:30 and Adam Craig shot off like a bullet, already with a good lead after 500 metres, where I was cheering everyone on.

The next group were also establishing a gap.

I stayed for a while, taking a few photos, but missing Sue as she went past.

I was supposed to be racing today, and would have come second in my age group, but Plantar Fasciitis dictated that I had to switch to doing a virtual 10K in my own time before 17 November. So today I went back to the car park to fetch a bell, returning to a point 500 metres from the finish. 

Adam Craig was still ahead - by nearly three minutes! - and flew past, finishing in a very creditable 28:53.

Edd Flynn was a clear second in 31:44.

Third in the race, and well clear of the next person, was Scott Minshull, who finished in 33.03.

I now stashed my phone (camera) in favour of ringing the bell and shouting encouragement for the final 500 metres. Various friends - Greg, Paul, Anthony, Helen, to name but a few - flew past before Sue arrived and went on to finish in a very respectable time - 51:35, 13th in her age category, and I made my way back to HQ.

Here's a map of the route.

The results indicate that out of 2087 entries, plus those like me who have switched to a 'virtual' event, just 1320 finished the race today. So nearly 700 failed to start!