Coniston 14 Plus

Part of the strategy of preparation for the PW challenge has been the inclusion of occasional road races as a attempt at speed training. Saturday's outing was the Coniston 14 Plus - that is the original 14 mile course with extra distance to avoid a bridge damaged by floods in the winter before last.

The day dawned bright and by the late morning start the heat was becoming a worrying issue. I had travelled up with younger brother Bob who like me was making return to the Coniston 14 after some years break. The race always has a slow start on account of the big entry and the narrow roads over the first mile and this prevents using up too much energy too early.

I was fully expecting last year's over 70 winner to turn out and take the prize and having missed him at the start assumed he was way ahead. With the prospect of him beating me yet again being a constant incentive to keep the pace up I put in maximum effort on the many hills and still saw neither hide nor hair of him. One of the many rewards that this race offers is the magnificent scenery and views of the surrounding fells and in the brilliant spring sunshine the surrounding landscape was at its best.

This is a race that has a reputation for toughness on account of the severe hills especially in the last few miles. The one good thing about the finish is the flat last mile as runners cross the top of the lake.

Back at the John Ruskin School, start and finish for the race, there was still no sign of last year's winner and when the results were posted yours truly had won the over 70 category by about 19 minutes in a time of 2hrs 22mins 50secs finishing 271st in a field of over well over 1000.

Brother Bob's story was somewhat different. He had warned me there would be a long wait for him, especially as he had trained for a 14 mile race, not knowing the effect of the changes to the course. Being much taller and nearly half as much heavier than myself his build is always going to make running more difficult for him. He finished in 3hrs 28mins 41 sec in 1041st place, and later expressed disappointment and an intention to return next year.