Three races in three days is a tough
way to greet the New Year, but it feels like a positive start to 2005. After
sweating away the excesses of New Year at BKO's fun score event we went straight
into National Event 1 on Ash Ranges. I had expected this race to be a walk in
the park, but it turned out to be a tough day out. The heather was high and
the map was out of date, poorly printed and only vaguely accurate. Just about
everyone lost time somewhere in the control lottery. Still, the sun was shining
and the course kept me interested. I took a fairly narrow victory from Nick
Barrable and Rob Baker, while Jenny won by a comfortable margin.
Next up was
the SLOW Trail Challenge, part of the promotion for the World Cup 2005. I was
quite sceptical about this race - a mass start red course with very simple controls,
but I really enjoyed the experience. In the Long category a pack quickly formed
of Dan Marston, Ed Catmur, Graham Gristwood, Phil Winskill and myself. The lead
changed hands several times and we often diverged on different routes, but always
converged again on the controls. Ed dropped off after a longer route, and the
remaining four punched together at the final control, with a decisive 600m leg
back to the finish. We all took slightly varied routes and I'm happy to say
that my notoriously bad sprint finish was not put to the test as I emerged with
a small lead. Phil snuck into second ahead of Dan. All four of us finished within
8 seconds around the 36.40 mark for the 10km course. Heather Monro was first
woman in a time of 41.41. 
The 6km course
wasn't quite so eventful with Jenny and Helen Winskill taking an early lead
and increasing it all the way. They switched positions through the fist half
of the race before Jenny pulled away after the spectator contol to finish with
a 45 second margin in a time of 25.34. The event is designed to attract local
runners to the sport and quite a few of them took part. There was also a coaching
workshop set up for the club's juniors, with a control grid to race around and
a talk from Helen Winskill. It is a great idea which could easily be used by
other clubs to promote the running nature of the sport.