A HUGE race with over 700 finishers, won by European XC medallist, Gemma Steel.
There can't be many races where club-standard competitors can line up against international medallists!
In a race that big, it can be hard to quantify what would be classified as a good race for you as an individual, and it can be even harder in a field that size to work out if you're in the process of achieving a decent result.
Before the race I'd said that I wanted to come in the top 100. Last year I was 102nd in a much smaller field at the Nationals in Sunderland, so top 100 seemed like a good target.
With so many in the field I made sure I got a good start but after a mile I realised I had very little idea if I was having a good race or not - unlike the Midlands where I know most of the athletes, I could see very few familiar faces and I could tell there were a fair few athletes in front of me!
I quickly realised the only way I could guarantee I was running a race I could be proud of, was to focus on running as hard as I could and not worry about anybody else.
It turned out to me a good tactic as I had my best ever XC race, finishing 63rd and giving it everything I had. Not a bad improvement from last year!
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