By George Page
Round three of the inter-club cross-country league took place in Killamarsh on Sunday 16th February. As normal, ‘mudfest’ is the only word to sum up this race. 41 Retford runners slopped their way around the new 9km course, with some outstanding individual and team results.
The new route consisted of two and a half (ish) loops around Nethermoor and Meadowgate Lakes. It started with a clockwise loop around Nethermoor Lake, which included hopping, splashing, or jumping over a couple of water filled ditches and skidding around some muddy trails. We then hit a short gravel path section before a right turn took us up and into the wooded trails. After a kilometre or so of ducking and weaving through the trees, we got to another gravel path next to Meadowgate Lake before a sharp uphill led us back to (you guessed it) MORE MUD! An anticlockwise run back around Nethermoor Lake took us back towards the start, which we passed to begin a second loop, skipping the section with the ditches this time round. With 177 runners churning up the course, the second lap was even muddier in places, especially towards the end coming back around Nethermoor Lake once more. With this section having been ran on three times during the race, it was a real struggle to stay on your feet in places, let alone run!
See Danny G’s video of the race to get an idea about what it was like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXMCNrr8vYY
Some special shoutouts go to Jacqui who supported Clare around the course, the RAC runners who helped Philippa after she fell a couple of times and Danny C who finished the race with one shoe! Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out on this.
After a clean off in the lake, we headed to the Nether Green WMC for some well-earned food and refreshments, as well as the results of the race. Our Ladies team made it 3 out of 3 and finished 1st yet again! With 5 of our ladies finishing in the top 10 on the day, it really was another outstanding race by everyone. Congratulations! Our Men’s team also made it 3 out of 3 with another 3rd place finish. This means we continue to be joint top of the overall table with Clowne.
The final race of the series will take place in Worksop on Sunday 2nd of March. With the Ladies and overall titles to play for this year, we need as many RAC runners as possible to continue with the incredible performances which have put us in this position. One final push! Let’s do it RAC.
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