By George Page
Sunday 2nd March saw the fourth and final race of this year’s interclub XC series. The sun was shining down on Manton Pit Wood and there was a slight apprehension in the air, knowing that we were in the running for two trophies – the Ladies and combined Overall.
With a couple of race clashes on the day, notably the Rasselbock Backyard Ultra at Sherwood Pines, several teams were looking a little lighter than previous races. Congratulations to Sarah Hill, Sam Sanders, Mark Fielding and Nick Kendall for their incredible Backyard efforts and serious miles!
The route around Manton Pit Wood consists of a lot of hard-packed gravel, muddy trails and tree covered paths. It also has plenty of undulations, especially in the second part. We turned up in our numbers with 45 runners wearing the red, white, and blue of Retford. The course began on a gravel path, featuring some frozen puddles, and headed up a slight gradient towards the bridge over the A57. A downhill path brushing through some prickly trees took us down to the golf course borders before looping around and back up to the A57 bridge. We headed back down to the start line towards the first lung-busting uphill section – a muddy path, including some stairs, up through the trees towards the gravel path and burned-out van at the top. This led us back to the bridge for the third crossing of the race and we found ourselves at the halfway point. After the bridge, we headed up the gravel path to the highest point on the course, back down towards the industrious surroundings of the DHL warehouse and then back up hill for what felt like an age. A tight left turn at the top took us off the gravel and back into the mud. A steep descent led us back down to the golf course borders, and for those who have ran the course before, the feeling that the infamous “wall” was lurking around the corner! For those of you who don’t know, the “wall” is a short, sharp bank consisting of deep grooves, meaning you must pick your route wisely and get stuck in! Whilst it is short, on tired legs late on in the race, it takes a lot out of you! The saving grace is that once at the top, it is less than a mile to the finish line and on a steady downhill gradient. Shoutout to Danny Crossland for his speedy finish. He was coming in so hot that he almost missed the finish line!
Mirroring the Handsworth race, we had four female and male runners finishing in the top ten of either race, which is fantastic! Like we have with all four races, our Ladies finished top on the day and the Men came in third place. But what did this mean for the overall outcome of the series?
Well, let me tell you! Our Ladies defended their title, which was to be expected going into the Worksop race, but we also managed to clinch the Overall series trophy as well. Worksop’s men put on a great performance at their home event, beating Clowne’s men to top spot, which allowed us to win the Overall series by a single point! Worksop and Clowne shared the spoils for the Men’s title this year.
I’ll repeat myself again here, but it has been great to see so many new runners, some who only started ‘Couch to 5K’ last year, giving cross country a go this year. Hopefully you all enjoyed it – the smiles in a lot of the photos suggest you did! Whilst it is a competitive series with friendly rivalries, it is also a great example of the social and welcoming side of running against other local clubs.
Great running team RAC! We did ourselves proud.
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