Race Report View

West Down Devon 10k - 08 Aug 2004

Set in a lovely valley, West Devon was another beautiful setting for a race. Held with their annual summer fair, Morris dancing and folk music filled the air. Thankfully for me a lot cooler than the previous day, with light rain. Race start time was 2pm, plenty of time to build up pre-race nerves, especially as the course was described as scenic but tough! Just getting out of the car set off me heart problem. The start of the race therefore proved very difficult, with my heart crashing and a very long climb for 1k or so. Then a very long downhill stretch, but for every down there’s an up and the ups seemed to go on forever. Thankfully by3k my heart dropped back into normal rhythm so for the next fairly undulating stretch I felt I was flying! And at last started overtaking people.

A tough hill finish slowed everyone’ pace and for me a disappointing time of 56mins (Made a little better by the cream tea in the village hall!)