A great win yesterday for Nigel Armstrong on a tough Glen Lough course. There were two things I noted most about Nigel’s success. First of all, he took time to practice some of the river crossings/features picking out the best lines to use during the race. Secondly he also had a very steady first couple of laps moving through as others tired.
Although conditions were not as bad as they might have been after the recent rain, the course is tough as there is very little let up - even the flat section of the start/finish area was very muddy. Add in the four stream/river crossings, running on a camber and a long hill of about 200m plus each lap.
With it being a fairly short lap there is great scope for spectators and it was really good to hear lots of shouts of encouragement during the lap – runners do appreciate it.
Overall, the result was quite a bit different from Nobles with the first three all missing. However, Gianni Epifani and Andy Fox must have been pleased to be close to Nigel and will see this as something to build on towards the championship races after Christmas.
Run of the day in my view was by James Broughton of Northern AC. He really seemed to be struggling towards the end of the summer and I think he was outside 40 mins on a couple of 10k’s. However, he ran a very positive race and when it looked like he might drop back after the second lap of the six laps, he dug in really well to finish 7th.
From my own perspective, I was pretty pleased to finish 5th. Having been given the all clear by the physio on Thursday I took things quite easy beforehand to give myself the best chance of making the start line. Despite trying to take it easy early on I still found it hard going from lap three on. It was my first race since September and only second race since June so it should have blown a few cobwebs away. Today, I felt very tired and quite sore. I would think I am not alone!
Overall, a good afternoon well organised by Western AC who made sure the course was well marked and everything ran to time.
Next up is Crossags, Ramsey on Sunday 30th November.
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I'd like to add my congratulations to James Broughton. Twice I passed him (laps 4 & 5) on the long climb only for to him to get his head in front each time on the very tough bit at the top. I couldn't get near him on the final lap.
Only the previous week he performance was below what he is capable of in the Syd Quirk, but he is a hard man thriving on the cross country and not too far behind Martin Malone and Chris Quine. Keep up the good work James.
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