Barnsley 10k: The need for a finishing kick.

After e-mailing the race organiser late last night(Saturday) regarding the Barnsley 10k I managed to secure a number, although there appeared to be loads left on the day when I got there. I had decided to do this race as late as last night with the other option the cross country at Spen. Conditions seemed perfect so I set off to Royston in good time.

This was a well organised event with chip timing, portaloos, canteen and ample parking. The new chip device which fastened to your leg, rather than your running shoe, with a simple strong paper strip seemed like another well thought out innovation. This caused no problems for me whatsoever during the race, it held tight and was easily removed at the end. Also the organisation of the chip devices into miniature drawers which were numbered, allowing for on the day entries to also have their own chip seemed a winner too. Four pounds extra on the day seemed justified this time.

There was a familiar crowd at the front with John Convery(now Wakefield), Shaun Dimilow(Barnsley), Andy Whitworth(Meltham), Kev Lilley(Sheffield) and a few others. I set off steady with the plan of trying to catch up with the main rivals later. I then overtook K. Lilley and A Whitworth before attempting to catch up with J Convery. Mark Hall(Otley) joined me along with Darren Newbould(Hallamshire) and I stayed with them and felt comfortable with the pace, even up to the 4 mile point. After that is when things started to get tough and the course turned hilly. There was only a short gap(about 20 seconds) between me and J.C, but the hills expended all my reserves and I was labouring at the finish, passed by Mark Hall and David Thomson(Barnsley) near to the finish. With a position of 10th and time of 34-40 another good performance apart from lacking the killer kick at the end which cost me 2 positions.

I notice that the link from chip time to power of 10 rankings seemed to have speeded up somewhat. I checked tonight and it's updated already - Technology rules.