Urban Nights Race 3

Urban Nights Race 3 on Tue 10th Jan 2012

The wet and windy weather had abated and pleasant running evening awaited us – apart from those who were overdressed!  Not so much route choice in this race – it was the first time I had run it – maybe I’ll use a different set of 7 William Hills betting offices next year – or even the real 7 hills of Sheffield but that would take rather longer and better suit a Sunday morning.
 
Something was wrong as we set off up Springvale Road to Crookes – I was in the lead – and again at Hunter’s Bar – I was still in the lead with Rob Little on my shoulder.  As we set off through Nether Edge “Rob, you’ve done this before, is this the way you usually come?” “Yes” replied Rob.  “Good, because my eyesight is so bad I can’t read the map very well”.  We then approached a road junction and turned right, I slowed enough to read the map and then swiftly did an about turn – we should have gone straight across. Rob – you need to stop following people and navigate yourself.  The detour allowed Rob B to catch us.  We still didn’t know where Oli had got too – he was with us in Crookes.
 
Running along London Road the two Rob’s pulled away – old legs were giving up on me.  We met Jon Hallam who got lost in Nether Edge and missed no 3. Oli eventually caught up after spending time looking for the Hunter’s Bar ‘Hill’ and passed me with ½ mile to go.  Several people managed to miss the finish in various ways which led to lots of position changes in the last 400m.
 
The après race curry was a great success with 12 people enjoying the Rajput for several hours afterwards.
 
The next race has no agreed optimum route and should see people setting off in all directions – see you on the 9th Feb.

Tim