The first of the TVP crew assembled on nice air conditioned train that whisked us effortlessly to Morges. Stefan was changed by not numbered up. We got confirmation that Tenke had arrived in Morges so I changed on the train and then right on schedule in Morges, Jason arrived with none other than the man of mystery himself Mr Leakey. See, my friend does exist.
On the way up Tenke noticed the small plaster the nurse had put on my arm after I gave my blood sample this morning at the doctor’s – it provoked this comment, “Niall, you’d better take that plaster off before someone wants to know what you what exactly you have been injecting yourself with.”
This entertained us all the way through the traffic jams to Mézières.
Managed a decent warm up at the start and had the hrt well above 100 before joining the start. I spotted “Bob le coureur” – aka Alain as ever about 12 rows back from the start and so I figured where I was (4 rows back from him) would be just about right.
The first steps were annoying as the funnel was tighter than the width of the massed runners and I nearly went over as I lost my balance. Quickly recovered though and was soon strong again using my elbows to make sure no-one got too close. Pace felt good and I could see Alain up ahead, some 40 in front. Closed though the first km and went though bang on 4. Perfect.
Now came the first of the three tests or challenges of the Mézières race that the guy on the tannoy had been gobbing off about. Hill One: 85m climb into the forest. Hrt red line from here on!
I enjoyed the next part of the course most, through the woods, wide paths, moving on through and at one point I was 4 people behind Alain.
Km 4 to five is a joy as back down nearly to the bottom, I get another sub 4min km, but by now it is clear that the flat and the hills are not so good for me. There seem to be a lot more good runners tonight. Around this point a noisy lady joins me to the rhythm of “allez, hah, merde, ahh, allez ah”. Very charming, this motivates me to push on and stop the rot! By now I am enjoying the alpine horns echoing thought he woods and I even notice the guy tossing the flag, as is the tradition. Nice touch.
Hill Two, the 2nd challenge. I do ok, but am net down. Alain is 20 ahead and super strong on the hills. I just can’t keep up. I’m feeling it and as I’m at the top of zone five and can’t see the finish line I do the sensible thing, ease of on the downhill and recover a shade for the final push.
The Third and final challenge. In theory the easiest of the three hills. But with 7 hard kms in the legs this was not going to be a sprint finish, we come out of the woods and get a good long look at the last km as we run along the tree line. Up the field then along the top before the sprint to the finish. My body is screaming at me to stop. The guy in front is reduced to the walk of death. I focus. That is not my race, I will keep running. I think of Stefan’s wife and kids in the crowd and pretend every family is them and that stops me walking. Finally, I’m at the top and let go for the finish. Collect a few places as I’m light and quiet on the track to the finish funnel.
39:13 official time 43/193 for my age or 148/599 overall. Looks like all the good runners turned up tonight!
Tenke won the ladies race so that was a cause for great celebration, only slightly marred by Tenke’s normally spotlessly glowing white high heeled racing shoes getting a speck of mud on them. This provided the entertainment for the journey home.
Good warm down with Tenke after for a few km.
The data sport guys and girls sat beside us for dinner, so we solve some more TVP mysteries.
Firstly, the gun time is your start time. No chip mat to run over or detector in the arch. But there is one at the finish. The guys with the zappers are a second control, but the time you cross the line is the time you get.
Stefan, Tenke and I had had two beers and dinner by the time Richard and Jason appear looking very fresh having showered and changed into clean clothes. Lots of talk about endorphins flowing, must ask James if that is covered in Brokeback!
Official results here.
Garmin connect here.
1 comment:
Thanks Niall for your interesting and funny report !
Had I known you were so close behind me, I would have been more stressed. But I was racing with the girl who finished second in Tenke's category, so I was looking ahead rather than behind me...
I think I know the "noisy" lady you mention, she trains in my club and is very nice, but I try to overrun her as fast as I can in races, because hearing her moanings drives me mad.
I was very impressed to be introduced to the winner of the ladies race, thanks again !
The next race in Chavornay will be special, as it is the longest one and for runners participating in the five races, it will probably not count for the final ranking.
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