South of the Thames 5 Miles

Result - 2nd

Race Report:

I was keen to do well in this race which holds some prestige and has a long history in the cross country calendar. It was first held in 1888 so has seen many runners come and go over the years, including Gary Staines, 1988 Olympic 5000m finalist and silver medallist at the 1990 European Championships and Steve Ovett, 1980 Olympic 800m Gold medallist and world record holder at both the mile and 1500 metres.

Perhaps the race doesn't have the depth of quality in the field as in athletics 'hay days' but it's still a race deserving respect. It started off at a very quick pace thanks to a long downhill stretch. I was eager to get into contention from the start and got into the lead group of five from the gun. The pace eased a little but we were still working quite hard as we made the climb back up to start the second lap.

The group was down to three, and I was still feeling good. I had decided to wait until we got to the long downhill section to make a break for it. Unfortunately one of the group had the same idea and hit the front harder and sooner than I had planned. I felt like I was sprinting at full pelt as I pursued him down the hill. The change of pace had taken me away from the opponent in third but had left me detached from the leader. My legs were coping with the race ten times better than they had the last time I trained hard into a race. But there was little they could do to get me back up to the front and I finished more than pleased with my second place. To finish second to an athlete that was racing in Holland the previous weekend, where he was representing the south of England really shows me that I'm reaching new levels of competitiveness, and I know I'm running better than ever before.