Posted Monday evening
A beautiful morning. Up early to set the course with Jeremy.
Most of the preparation last night paid off although the bike was difficult to ride with nine, carefully prepared sign-posts strapped to it with bungie chords. Said sign-posts then promptly fell to pieces when we tried to hammer them in to the ground... Ho-hum.
Used all 50 of the route markers and most of the other signs. Kept forgetting to put the distance markers up though so had to keep going back to do them while Jeremy pushed on ahead.
Back in time for lunch and a quick read of the papers before heading off to do last minute fussing. Karen, Andrew and the boys arrived as I was leaving so I knew that we would have at least a few supporters!
Race went well. The start on the gravel drive in front of the Manor was really friendly with everyone shaking hands and having a few minutes to catch up; I was really pleased that Neil and the family had travelled to be part of the race, things like that mean a lot. Its that kind of spirit that we need to keep if (when) the race grows - a group of old and new friends out for a run.
Out on the course a blisteringly quick pace was set by Dominic and Jason up in front with Jeremy coming in a creditable third (again). Karen won it for the ladies as had been widely forecast (must try harder to get more ladies involved next year!).
The finish down the avenue of trees facing the Manor House was as spectacular as I'd hoped and although I (obviously) missed the first three come in, Chariots of Fire was still playing as I finished. There was a really good crowd of people to cheer the finishers in and several supporters got involved in holding the finish tape, handing out water etc. William did a great job handing out the medals and we couldn't have done without Jane's time keeping again (and keeping me sane in the run-up).
I'm delighted that the race details and timing spreadsheet/ program worked really well; it took a lot of stress away for Jane. I'll take the data out and post it on a suitable online forum seeing as I couldn't find any software under $200 when I looked...
So I'm classing the second Childrey 10k Invitation Fun Run as a success (well I haven't had any complaints) and the planning for next year starts when we get back from holiday in August. Thoughts include a 5k and 1k run (both off-road) for children and those not up to the 10k. Also thinking of following Neil's great suggestion of starting the 10k at about 1400 so we can present trophies at the start of the Fete. All ideas welcome.
