Even as the baby brother to the Gin Pit Double, the Lions Bridge is holding its own. This year the 6 lap marathon and 3 Lap half marathon had an increase in runners with most of them opting for the full 6 lap marathon version.
Registration – Lions Bridge Style
The weather leading up to the event had been mainly dry and the trails were in good condition, mostly firm and mud free. The course is only lightly undulating and has the potential to allow runners to produce good times but the warm humid weather made the sections of the course exposed to the full sun too hot for running and very tough.
Many of the runners recorded slower times than normal but there were a few very impressive results. This year’s male winner, Patrick Babb completed the course in a sizzling 3 hours 5 minutes 56 seconds. For the ladies first back was our regular winner and local lady Caroline Hemming who burned round the course in an impressive 3 hours 30 minutes 34 seconds.
Post-race there was the usual pasties for sale at the kitchen and cold drinks from behind the bar which were enjoyed by all. It was great to see so many locals and returning friendly faces. Lots commented how they had enjoyed the event which is much appreciated after all the effort it takes to arrange. I would like to add we enjoyed holding the event and inviting our running friends to the Gin Pit. Special thanks go to Yuk-Lam and Sandra for time keeping and looking after the finish line. Thanks also to Han May for serving all the runners with pasties in the kitchen.
A day for friends to meet and enjoy.
As for my race, well it didn’t go to plan. The previous week I had slightly injured my left knee doing the Potteries marathon. It had been sore all week and I probably shouldn’t have run but I was determined to complete my own race as I wanted one of the 100 new larger, lovely Lions Bridge medals which I had ordered for the event. I might have bought 100 medals but I knew if I wanted to keep one, I had to earn it.
I started at the back of the field, after starting the race and took the first lap very slowly to ease in my sore knee and evaluate whether it could run the full distance. After the first lap all seemed ok and for the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the race I did speed up. I could feel a dull pain in the knee most of the time but it wasn’t getting any worse. Going into the final 2 laps the heat was getting to me, just like most of the other runners and I slowed. Today my time wasn’t important, I just wanted one of my shiny medals and hopefully not aggravate my knee too much. Lap 6 finally came, it was too hot for me and all I could do was simply jog round. At least it was mission accomplished and I had a lovely new Lions Bridge medal.
Well done to Eleanor, finally completing the Lions Bridge on her 3rd attempt.
The bad news is the next day my knee swelled up and was very sore. It’s a week on and the swelling going down but the knee joint is still sore and sadly I think I’m still some days off daring to go for a run. Only time will tell if my decision to run last Sunday was the right one or not but no one can take the medal away from me.
Friends, old and new.
