Vale of Leven 10k

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Good conditions for the final race in the Polaroid 10k Series - dry, mild and no wind.

There was some confusion just before kick-off when somebody noticed the 2 Eritreans had forgotten to collect their timing chips. It looked like there might be some delay when suddenly a hooter sounded which caught everyone by surprise, and only after a few seconds was there a reaction and we realised that the race had started.

In the confusion, I actually got away quite quickly and was in around 10th position running through Balloch at the start chatting with Russ Whittington. Once into the Park I was caught by Paul Thompson. I tried to run with Paul, but once again he was too strong for me. I was also caught and passed by Nick Reid, Fiona Matheson and Steven Prentice.

The route this year was improved with the return leg along the cycle path beside the River Leven. Here I tracked Adam Taylor of Garscube (who strangely doesn't appear in the results), and eventually passed him with a mile to go. My only real aim was to get properly under 36 minutes, and I didn't expect to catch anyone else, but in the closing 100 metres I suddenly realised I could maybe get back to Steven Prentice of Bella Harriers, so gave it a bit of a full blown sprint and passed him at speed about 6 inches before the blue mats at the finish.

I finished 18th with a gun time of 35:37 and 4th M40, so was quite pleased that all 4 races were between 35:20 and 35:45.

Images courtesy of Great Scott Photography