JK Relay, Minley, M165+ relay, leg 1 , 5.3km, 2nd back in class, 4th back overall, 30:44 (strava), 30:59 (EMIT pad after we'd stopped). BOK Dream team back in action - 1st place. Yay.
Foot compeded & taped; comfy new Mudclaws on. Painkillers swallowed.
Mass start with elite women. M55s include Tim Tett (rematch?) & leg 1 specialist Nigel Bunn (after a disappointing 2 ind. races for him). Got boxed miles back after start (messing around "opening" map), and had to run wide in forest to try to catch up. I could see Nigel B & Cecilie way up front, with Tim T not far behind, but when we hit the forest road, it started making sense as others peeled off to the right (in error!!), & Cecilie went full pelt to no 1, with 2-3 elite Ws in her wake & me in oxygen debt 10 seconds further down.
Got my act together, & by no 2 was going well - but lost the leaders near 3 & had a lucky escape - 10s lost.
Thence on was fighting to stay within spitting distance of Nigel, and Cecilie reappeared having had a slightly longer gaffle. Meanwhile, Tessa Strain was exerting her dominance on the race, and I was just off the pace at the spectator control, but pulled back with a decent climb/line to no 15. Then on was eyeballs out and as Tessa & Cecilie kicked from no 17, I was already dropped and could not make any impression on Nigel, either. Still. No sign of SYO - very weird.
Happily, Mark S passed Jules B, and Clive pulled another 2mins away from Roger so TVOC got a deserved silver; pre-race joint favourites SYO a distant 8th. Tim clearly gave 100% yesterday & had nothing left. Bewildering. Nick L ran a decent middle leg!!!
No prizes. I suspect EMIT was to blame; yet our result was clear cut (& the elite women's wasn't, after 2 DQ's - yet they got *their* podiums....hmm.....). This JK will be remembered for EMIT woes, which is a shame as it was a really good JK. The commentary was also way off the standard expected. When Clive finished, they asked him "Did you win?" He replied "that's what you're supposed to know!". Dear me.
Note: I won the JK short open relay with SHUOC in 1984 (age 19!); M21L1 in 1991, and my Mum won the JK W43 ("D43") in 1979, 40 years ago, in gardening shoes, at her first attempt. I beat Clive too, that year! ;-)
https://www.strava.com/activities/2310295123https://www.jk.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#80&route...