The hunter is hunted.

Im sure i must of been some sort of game bird in my past life. The starters shot gun went off . Well ! thats what it sounded like to me. And yet again i was knocking people out of my way to get up the road as fast as possible. At 400 mtrs i was flying , by 800 mtrs i was still leading and easing back , by the 1km mark i was starting to think the rest of the lead runners knew something i didn't as i was still leading .Was that starter shot gun laying in wait ahead. By one and half kilometres i was still leading , surely i haven't improved that much in two weeks. Finally three of them came past me , Hepples , a Kenyan and another runner. If i hadn't managed to get rid of enough energy now was the time to get rid of the last few drops and i jumped on to the back of them . A kilometre at that pace was too much and i drifted off the back of them. But almost straight away another runner came past , no channce was i going to let another runner beat me , so i speeded up and managed to latch onto the back of him. I passed the 5 kilomtre mark and turned in to a strong head wind , thinking i would now be able to sit comfortably behind my pray in front of me , he started to pull away . Up ahead i could see the leading three , the Kenyan had been dropped , who said they can't be beaten. 8 kilmotre mark and i could sense somebody was hunting the hunter , no need to panic there's no way there going to catch me now i thought. Down the last kilometre i was starting to catch the fourth placed runner who was catching the Kenyan but then i heard footsteps from behind, with 400 mtrs to go i was just holding the runner from behind off but in my mind there's no chance i'm going to give my posistion up now. Around the final bend and i'm totally knackered , the runner from behind goes for the sprint , how dare they try to pinch my position so i killed him off with a last ditch sprint.
Within a couple of seconds after crossing the line the enemy who took me on suddenly becomes a friendly fellow runner . I thank Stewy Bell for the final Challange and the runner that beat me shakes hands. It's hard work hunting but it's definetly harder being the hunted , especially if you want to live.
Stephen Hepples won the race. The second placed runner was moaning about how he had done all the hard work and Hepples had sprinted off at the finish.
With very strong winds there was no chance of a P.B. so you have to go for position rather than time.
You need to be a smart runner if leading a pack and decide what the threats are. If someone is of equal or slightly less ability then you don't need to do all the hard work on the front , you can switch sides of the road to stop them drafting or if it's a head wind you can slow down , or better still put in an attack. If you still haven't shaken them off then zig zag across the road until they get the message your not happy with their tactics. Remember it's a race not a time trial, , position is what it's all about.If you want some tips on how to win just watch those that do , that is what i've done over the years.
Overall it was another great race. Almost as good as Wetherby 10k.
To be honest there was quite a few good fell runners that i needed to beat , and i am pleased to say i thrashed them. (They'll be after me now i've said that.)
Another good runner young Joe Raferty was back racing after joining the RAF. In the past Joe has won a NYSD cross country event to say the least, i could do with trying to get him signed up as a second claim runner for the cross country season. I'm sure Thirsk could have a fantastic cross country team if we could persuade these runners to join forces.
The dog was non to pleased with its visit to the big city. With Ampleforth next week the dog is looking forward to a warm up round the woods.
My prize for the Teespride 10k was £50 which you have to phone up and claim. I've spent all afternoon trying to get through claiming all the prizes.
I might have a bit of trouble claiming the third prize with my Yorkshire Kenyan accent.