The "Muddy Woody 6" Experience 2009
Well here we go again with one of my
favorite off road races - Wye Valley Runners "MUDDY WOODY 6" .
A quick check outside reveals a dry, mild morning so its back inside for my normal pre-race breakfast of porridge with honey followed by a hot cup
of tea, then its time to put on my race kit which includes a new pair of black off road socks saved
specially for the occasion.
I set off nice and early as parking can mean
a bit of a walk to the race HQ if you arrive too late. Once I had registered and picked up my race
number I mixed with the other local club members to catch up on on the gossip of recent races that we had
taken part in.
The pre-race talk was of very
muddy conditions so studs or fell shoes were the ones to be in, though
as I looked around on the start line I could
see many runners in normal road trainers or gym shoes and I knew these runners would soon be struggling for
any kind of grip.
Well
here we go with the race itself.
Off we go on along downhill stretch with a
good surface before turning left onto the first of what will be many muddy energy sapping hill climbs. By
halfway up this first hill the runners who had set off to quick
were already struggling with some who's breathing
now sounded like a bulldog with a very bad cold! While others seemed to be running on the spot as they
struggled for any kind of grip.
The course carried on with many more muddy up and downhill sections with only the occasional rest bite through the wooded sections, but even here your eyes had to be alert to the tree roots waiting to trip you up.
After one downhill section at about the halfway point you arrived at the stream crossing which was not ankle deep as it looked but more like thigh deep which took me totally by surprise and I nearly ended up swimming, much to the amusement of the cheering Tim Clarke of Hereford Couriers. (When's that top bloke going to return and thrash us all again?) Once out of the water I did a quick visual check to see what the color of my shoes had been pre-race, before they were quickly camouflaged again under a thick layer of gooey mud.
In the last couple of miles I managed to catch and pass two more runners but I was myself passed by Mike Fawcett of Wye Valley Runners who had always been in my footsteps.
As anyone who has run this race knows, the final narrow, muddy, steep uphill section takes away any of your remaining energy and Mike and myself made our way up this section side by side with neither of us wanting to give a inch. As we finally emerged into the sunlight at the top a large crowd or cheering spectators awaited us, from here up too the finishing line I tried to close in on mike who had managed to put about a two second gap on me but there was nothing left in the tank and that remained the gap as we crossed the finishing line.
After receiving the race t-shirt it was time
to refuel on the free doughnuts, bread and cheese and hot tea before the post race reviews to one another started
on how we should have run!. Not long later the presentations took place
which gave me a 7th place out of 296 finishers and a nice big medal for being first in my age group (there's
still life in these old legs yet Barry).
Arriving home I was greeted by the wife who
took one look at the state of me and my race kit and insisted she would take great delight in washing them for
me (or maybe I was dreaming that bit!).
As for my new socks they had now acquired a
large ventilation hole and were condemned to the bin.
Many thanks to all the organizers and
marshals for putting on the event and I hope to be back next year, with
maybe some more new socks to ruin.
Cliff Berry
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