North Wales Cross Country Championships 2010

Having spent the past weeks since the cancellation of the Wrexham cross country, I have been so impatient to race that it almost frustrating. Having enjoyed my longest every period of pain free running and training, the regime has left me confident and raring to race to establish how far I have come. Being positive now seems to be the norm' and whilst I am apprehensive I can't help be keen to race. Saturday saw the annual north Wales cross country championships being held for the first time at the Rhug estate near Corwen. The course was both new and of course beautiful, being set in the grounds of the seat of Lord Newborough. Having walked the course with Marilyn Kitching, I was very pleased that it offered a challenging route with a few good climbs and decents.

From the off I managed to maintain a reasonable position in 2nd place ahead of Gina Palleta (GB and Wales) and Rhian Pierce. I felt comfortable and with Marilyn setting the early pace I settled into my run. After the 1st 2.5km lap I had managed to extend my lead over the following pack to 50 mts and whilst Marilyn had stretched the field I was confident. Then, it all went wrong!  Running head down as is my usual style, I missed a turn and as a result ran the wrong way, in the following seconds, Gina not only managed to recover the lost yards but then remain a good 50 mts ahead where she was joined by Erika Robisnon. At this point my head went and as a result I made a second mistake leaving the door open for Rhian to pass me at the finsh straight.  There is nobody to blame except myself. Whilst I ran to an age category win, I am taking some satisfaction from how comfortably I had run from the start. I normalyy play catch up, but this time, I was out from the start to consolidate a good run. Most people would be gutted, ironically I am not, the training is working and my focus is positive. If you had have asked me at the start of the season, I would never have presumed to be this confident!  Now, we have the national championship in February, the inter regional championships and the final round of the Grand Prix Express cross country league at Oswestry on Saturday.....