Another Sunday, another brisk start for the Stocksbridge collective. With previous years having had to contend with storms and hurricane weather warnings, a paltry dusting of snow wasn’t sufficient to deter our 5 hardy crew members. Charlotte and Narni made sure to take advantage of the heated seat setup in the car, and we tootled merrily over to Wombwell with Motown on the radio as our driving theme. Happily we were directed into a very favourable parking spot just by the entrance, all the better for stashing fleeces and making our escape at the end. As we headed towards race HQ to pick up our numbers we found a joyous Jolene and a stoic Matt, who had done very well considering the booze-a-thon the evening prior. Amy bounced up with her usual excellent attitude, and we shuttled forwards to pin our numbers on. It was collectively agreed that we’d all been dealt lucky numbers; how auspicious. A somewhat lengthy queue for the female bogs ensued, with Narni declaring that she was going to put on a deep voice and go in the gents, and that no-one could stop her. A kind marshal quickly reassured us that the race wouldn’t start until everyone had got through, and we breathed a collective sigh of relief.
A brief jog around the track and we nestled in mid-field. Amy had braved the elements in vest and shorts, and there were goosebumps a-plenty. Charlotte was sporting a woolly Percy Pud hat, and Narni had opted cunningly for two pairs of gloves. Jolene could not be missed in her trademark snazzy leggings. A brief race briefing and we were off, only 5-ish minutes or so from the advertised 9.30 start time. Looping our way around the race track we powered out of the stadium and off through Wombwell, with rolling road closures throughout. The marshals were excellent, and local traffic was respectful. Hurtling past the angling warehouse we knew that the infamous Snape hill slog was up ahead, and being from Stocksbridge we put our best feet forward and powered up the incline. The great news is that once you’ve made it up, you’ve got a nice section to glide down again, hooray!
Plenty of local club colours were in attendance and it was heartening to see some familiar faces as we hurtled through Darfield and past Morrison Road Chippy (alas, no time for a snack). Flying down Upperwood road the pace was increasing as we made the most of the downhill section, before joining back up with Snape Hill Road on our way back to the racetrack. Legs were beginning to burn: we knew that once we’d got back towards race HQ we had a cruel 1.5 laps of the track before the finish line. The psychology of this final section is an interesting one, as the twists and turns of the track mean you can see exactly who’s hot on your tail. Narni was busy congratulating herself on no-one else from SRC having passed her when a little voice on her shoulder revealed that Amy had in fact, caught her. Sickening but unsurprising, as Amy is our 2024 most improved athlete, and a speed demon at that. With mutual encouragement and pants of ‘we can do this’ (Narni was in fact not convinced she could do this and was about to pull a Brownlee brothers style collapse), we flew over the line with the following times:
Narni Fulford – wheezed in at 40:34
Amy Hutchinson – glided through in 40:35
Charlotte Bailey – bounced over at 45:22
Jolene Allen – smashed it in 45:50
Matt Allen – powered through at 46:14
A really strong outing for the club this weekend, and a slap up Wetherspoons breakfast was consumed with great gusto afterwards. Hearty thanks to Kingstone Runners for hosting such a magnificent race.
