Dundry Thunder, 1-2-3
A couple of days after a fast, flat 5K, I lined up for the 3rd of this year’s TACH races, the Dundry Thunder, a tough and hilly 10K. Having run the race last year I expected livestock, farm machinery, gates, stiles, bridges, rutted mud, long grass, crops. Andy gave me a lift from Southville confessing he’d be running to enjoy himself since he wasn’t feeling great, he’d picked up a bug of some sort.
For the first 100m or so I led the race. Once we hit Littleton Lane I eased up, picking my footing carefully across tarmac, stones, rubble, compacted refuse. Down, down we went, then down some more before eventually sweeping right and looping back up through the fields. There were 5 ahead of me now: Matt in the lead, 3 Bristol and West runners, including Neil, and one from Weston AC. By chance I’d positioned myself well, catching runners as they bunched up through a sequence of gates.
The route levelled on to an overgrown path, single file only. You can’t see me in the photo but I’m right behind the Weston runner, who doesn’t seem to be enjoying the long grass. By now Matt had built a commanding lead, sensing and grasping his chance. On leaving the path we had an opportunity to accelerate on level, open terrain. The tall runner in the green vest behind me who I’d assumed was Phil turned out to be Andy, who did indeed look to be enjoying himself. Past the radio mast, though a barley field, and then hurtling back down the hill with Chew Valley Lake and the Mendips ahead.
As on the first descent I chose to run alone allowing the leaders — Matt and Andy — to extend their lead. I had them in sight. I reckoned, when we hit the bottom of Littleton Lane, there were 10 minutes to go. This was where the race would be won. Last year, I’d caught Matt on this climb, as well as a runner from Weston who’d been reduced to walking; I’d put time into Andy, and I’d also caught Andy Malloy — only for him to speed up and blow me away. This year, neither Matt nor Andy showed any sign of weakness. A couple of lads were playing on bikes towards the top of the climb. I hoped they wouldn’t get in anyone’s way.
At last I reached the top of Littleton Lane. Turn left, a marshal indicated. I wasn’t quite sure which way to go at the next junction but chose right. Good, there was Andy! I wouldn’t be catching him now but I couldn’t see anyone catching me either. I heard a scream: had a runner tangled with those cyclists? No, there was Matt, sprinting back towards the junction I’d just navigated. He must have gone the wrong way. I considered slowing up to let him finish in his rightful place ahead of me, but having got this far I wanted to get to the end with a time to compare against last year’s.
In the end, my time was 4 seconds faster than I ran last year. I’ll take that. I’ll also take 3rd place, one position higher than last year — Andy and I gave the win to Matt, since we clearly wouldn’t have caught him. Next up (and down, and up, and down), the Purdown Pursuit!
§
Here’s Andy, who can now see the finish but not Matt!
Dried mud — hard work after the final climb. As you can see, having run the entire race in front, Matt has ended up behind me.
Gutted!
§
My thanks to Antony Clark for the dramatic photos used on this page.