Dave Needham Completes Keep Your Eye on the Ball 5k Run at Rother Valley Country Park
Words by Dave Needham…
Well the morning of my race eventually came around and I hoped that I was ready. My wife took me to Rother Valley Country Park in plenty of time before the race began. As we lined up for the start I had a flashback to my school days when I ran my last ever race. There was one guy who seemed to take the race very seriously (he even wore a yellow vest when we were all supposed to wear our KYEOTB tee-shirt).
Well it was no surprise when he shot out of the traps like a house on fire; the rest of us just jogged in his wake. There were about 30 of us running the 5k, and many more on the 10k which followed 10minutes later. The route was around the lakes at the park, and other than one section was reasonably level.
I managed to complete the race in a time of 22 minutes and 44 seconds which put me in 6th place: this was well behind yellow vest who finished 1st with a time of 17:51 which was almost 2 minutes in front of the second place runner.
My time was a big surprise as I was expecting to run about 26 minutes, which must mean that my training route was longer and more difficult than running around a couple of lakes.
The 10k race was a bit exciting with Iron Man finishing before Spiderman, and one of the runners falling just before the end and then one the finish line itself, where he received medical treatment from the St. John’s ambulance men.
Me at the start
Me coming in to finish
Me with my runners medal