TTOTTALLY TTOP RACE WITTH A BITT OF EVERYTTHING
HURST GREEN TURKEY TROT
Following the first forty mile week for some time and much of that at a decent rate of effort, battered legs and aching knees have been the story this week. Tuesday's track session pretty much broke me as I called it quits after ten of a proposed fourteen 500 metre reps. It was one of those nights when the one minute recovery was offering absolutely no recovery whatsoever and so I opted out before I started going backwards. Since then it's been easier on the mileage between a couple of rest days to try and retain some sort of freshness for Saturday's race.
The Hurst Green Turkey Trot has a short but distinguished history, already engraining itself in to East Lancashire running folklore. The boundaries broken to win the fancy dress competition are stretched beyond reasonable imagination of what somebody can possibly run in, whilst the race also attracts some top end athletes with much more serious aspirations. As the brainchild of maverick Ribble Valley Harrier Chris Barnes, anything is possible at the Turkey Trot.
This was my TT debut and it's fair to say that I now wished I'd chanced racing previous ones. Sadly I didn't have time to stick around much before, or after the race when the presentation reputedly gives the Woodentops original version a run for it's money. But I got enough of a vibe to wish that I had. The only complaint I had was that the Barnes would not wait for my GPS signal to connect and rudely started the race regardless. The thick Ribble Valley clag may have been blocking out the satellite signal. I have a fraught relationship with technology at the best of times. I normally settle for the simplicity of the good old stopwatch on a Casio from Argos for racing in, but with rushing around I'd forgotten it. I don't even know if this fandangled Polar watch of mine has basic stopwatch facility, I don't know what I was thinking.
Despite that distraction, I settled down to a comfortable pace and was going along fine without busting myself. The legs were certainly feeling better than I had feared. However, the sight of Dave Motley's bum cheeks flashing through thin black tights from beneath his bespoke Trawden AC cape was enough to push me on a little harder than I wanted to. But the only reward for that little surge ahead was Craig Stansfield's tight buttocks for company in his gingerbread man outfit. There was only one thing for it - push on towards raceaholic Darren Fishwick who had standard black running shorts on that thankfully left much more to the imagination. I'd just got tucked in behind Darren as we approached the 'elephant trap' -  a refreshing deep water hole through which we wade - but a few yards on from there I tripped in a clumsy fashion and slid my right knee in to some shrubbery roots. Nowt major, but enough to put me out of my stride. The Stansfield immediately took advantage and cruised past whilst I was on the deck and it took a good few minutes to run my knocked knee back in to some sort of comfort. Unfortunately that happened to be over probably the most testing section of the race which leads up to the highest point and I started to lose a bit of ground. No excuse though for slouching here, there's still work to be done on my uphill game. Darren and Stanners had already lost me on this section before Mr Motley soared past and was looking strong. Next came the unmistakable toe sprung running action of Clayton's Matt Duckworth, but as the descent started, so did my second wind and I set about regaining some places. I caught and passed Matt just before exiting the woods and then it was another Matt who I was closing in on next, the Nuttall variety and my Blackburn Harrier club mate who himself had been passed by the battling trio of Fishwick, Stansfield and Motley. Those three were also getting a little closer once again, but pushing each other hard and I quickly realised that they were to remain uncatchable. So it was all about Mr Nuttall, looking his usual ten years younger and attired as a Roman soldier. He had threatened me with his sword before the race if I dared to pass him. 'Not much chance of that', said I, even though I knew he wasn't firing anywhere near his full cylinders at present. But it was a close call in the end. If I'd known where the finish was then I would have put in a challenge on the little gradient leading up to it. As Matt attacked it, I thought, 'I'll save a bit for the finish instead', only to realise at the brow of that little pull that essentially that was the finish!
Oh well. Not a bad day at the office and a much needed race under the belt. I certainly ran the latter half of the race strong. The TT is a cracking course with a bit of everything. Some quality ladies in this one with three inside the top nine whilst the quality right at the very front was ridiculous. The ever improving Chris Farrell of Horwich smashing under 27 minutes on this course is outstanding. Nothing less was ever going to beat Ilkley's man of the moment Tom Adams who had to settle for a rare second spot.

HURST GREEN TURKEY TROT (5m)   Hurst Green, Lancs.
1st Man - Chris Farrell 26:54 (Horwich RMI)
1st Lady - Julie Briscoe 32:59 (Wakefield & Dist. H.)
My Stats - 33:56   14/265