Ilkley Trail race

(Thanks to Terry Lonergan for the photo)

The route of the Ilkley Trail race is great for just going out for a run, but it's a tough course for a race. Having run this race the previous 2 years, I knew that it wasn't really my kind of race: long uphill to start with, tough moorland section in the middle & a fast descent to finish, almost 11.5k. Fortunately this year it was quite dry underfoot, despite yeaterday's rain.

I felt fine going up the hill, but was overtaken by several people on the moorland section, which was hard going into the strong wind. Once we got on to the short road section before the downhill, I seemed to get my energy back, maybe it was just the effects of having tarmac under my feet. I managed to get back passed a few people on the descent, having struggled on that section last year.

My finishing time was 50.14, which was about 3 1/2 minutes faster than I did last year & 36th position compared to 79th. I was second in the M55 category, beaten by Nick P who is much more at home on this kind of terrain than I am. Overall it was a reasonable run, although it is a bit frustrating to be relatively much slower than I am on the roads.