Lynford Race Report

Lynford Clover Weekend

Race Report
10km Trail run- 3rd in Cat, 6th overall in a time of 52.12min

40km Mtb- 10th in Cat, 40th overall (mechanical failure) time of 2h25min

A chaotic start to a great weekend of racing. Friday night was a turn of events for me when my car was broken into with what looked like possibly an attempt to steal it! Not the ideal situation before a weekend of racing! With the lack of sleep clearly showing in my blood shot eyes the morning after, I set off for the race meeting on Saturday morning at 6am which was to be held in Ixopo Kwa-Zulu Natal @ Lynford Primary school.

A bitterly cold morning set as the back drop of the 10km trail run. Certainly conditions fit for trail running. The competing field set at approximately 150 athletes but with the chaos from the previous evening I found myself a little distracted. I set out to warm  up in my regular routine, a light jog followed by some stretches and ABCs. Getting my heart rate to rise steady, aiming to time the end of my warm up with the Start of the race by a few seconds is always a challenge. The key here is to make sure you haven't started burning valuable fuels that you  intend to use for the race, however, obviously making sure you are warm enough so that you prevent injury.

Now standing on the start line next to some eager competitors. Enthusiasm was the order of the day with a comical start. The "gun man" holding a (double barrel shotgun) was "suppose" to shoot a milk carton(sponsored by Clover milk company) out the sky signalling the start of the event. After the famous "on your marks", "get set", "Bang" all that was seen was a floating milk carton without the explosion that was aticipated by all. It set the tone to the race and offered some laughter. After a lot of chatter amongst the front runners we found ourselves asking, "which way"?? A small group of us had taken a wrong turn allowing the  middle of the pack to pass by on the correct route. Now making us the back markers. I spent the next 10min trying to consolidate my efforts to reach the front again. At the end of the race I managed a 6th overall and thoroughly enjoyed the tricky terrain. See my GARMIN file for Stats on my race... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48894576


The 40km mountain bike race the following day was also a great race with the heat of the day close to 40C it proved to be the biggest challenge. I also suffered a mechanical failure when I bent my front Rotor(disk brake) on a tree stump in the single track. For the rest of the ride I was accompanied by a little mouse, with every rotation of the wheel I heard "SQUEAK", "SQUEAK", for the Stats on this race please see my GARMIN file...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48894549