Yesterday was the first edition of the Crewkerne 10km road race which replaced the long standing 9 miles after 30 years. Its an event that has a special place in my memories having first run the 4.5 mile 'fun run' here back in the mid 80's when age was no barrier to running road races ! And then in 2009 I broke the course record for the 9 on what was known as one of the toughest road race courses in this part of the country.
In recent years dwindling numbers in the 9 miles have forced a bit of a re-think and host club Crewkerne Running Club decided to relauch the event as a 10k, include it in the Somerset Race series and bring it forward a couple of weeks in the calendar. The first week in June has produced some horribly hot races in the past and those narrow country lanes can get pretty stuffy so a mid-May date was welcome. And they did a great job with their new event.
The new course out to Merriott and back through Hinton is still a stinker with the massive climbs in the first and last 2.5km still there and with an added 3km drag up out of Merriott to knock the stuffing out of your legs before the final assault.
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| photo: Tracy Symes |
A nice innovation this year has been to add a 'King of the Hill' prize at the top of the first climb. This is something that the Yeovil Half Marathon have included half way round (based on fastest ascent rather than first to the top) and it works brilliantly - adding some much needed spice.
I was happy to let the cavalry charge up the hill have its 3 minutes of fame and then pick off the winners in the subsequent mile as their legs swam in hydrogen ions. Clear of the pack at the 3km mark I was able to run comfortably hard all the way to Hinton before putting my foot down at the 6km mark and running the closing stretch as hard as I could in attempt to get under 33 minutes. In the end I came up a bit short but for 12 months at least I will be the owner of both course records :-)
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