Venue; Malvern - Peach-field Common
This was the third race in the calender for the Gloucester league (my second in this league format), and my final race of the year. I was looking forward to the race as Malvern is a place very close to my heart because most of my bike work is done in and through the picturesque Malvern hills (Jason Taylor, Paul Scriven and Richard Price will agree).
The course at Malvern is always one of the toughest in the county and it certainly held up to its reputation. The climb around 1k into each lap was insane and certainly split the field within the first lap (it got tougher and tougher each lap). The course was up and down throughout and proved tough for all, although it was slightly firm on foot so there were no footing problems through the whole race.
As the race progressed I could feel myself getting slightly more tired, but I had also found a comfortable stride range, and was holding around 20th position (for a triathlete/duathlete against all these runners I was happy). On the last lap I decided to step it up slightly and see what I had left, I was able to keep gaining on a few in front and push past a few runners and get into 16th position (eventually where I finished). As alwasy in XC it finished with a sprint, with 17th position gaining on me slightly on the last hill I was able to hold him off and finish strong.
Overall I was happy with where I had finished as I had trained through the race with no sign of a taper (eyes set on other goals), and just used the race as a hard training session.
One thing I will say is that you always know when you have raced in Malvern..............HILLY!!!!
http://www.glosaaa.org.uk/RESULTS_CROSS/Glos_CC_results_14December2013.pdf
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