Running the river of mud

Liam Roberts raced in both the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) cross-country championships in Leeds and a Birmingham Cross-Country League Division 1 fixture. He raced in the men’s B-race at BUCS, which was held as the final race of the day after close to 1000 competitors had already used the course.

By this point, the multi-lap, 7.5km course resembled a river of mud coursing its way around some playing fields. Liam struggled with the conditions underfoot and finished 63rd in 30:21.

At the Birmingham League the conditions were slightly better with half of the (approximately) 10km course being firm underfoot and the other half being somewhat less so. Liam fared much better here to come 27th in 34:56, his highest position by 10 places and a good move forward as he continues to regain fitness.

Lesley Adams ran the Stourbridge ladies 7k and got a prize for her age category W55. As it’s the only prize she has ever won Lesley was really pleased, especially as she beat her 2008 time by three minutes.

On Sunday Luke Reed took part in the Exeter Half Marathon. On arrival to the event, the organisers apologised that some of the course was flooded, so they had to change the route, making it more like 12 miles.

As it turned out the course change actually made it longer, 13.3 miles!

Reed went on to run a very solid race, averaging 6.17min per mile finishing in 1.23.40. 8th place out of 217 finishers. Richard Easton also had a superb race, finishing 12th and getting a PB in 1.26.14.