Crookstone Crashout

Crookstone Crashout on Wed 12th Jul 2023

The race was scheduled about a month later than usual to fit better with a busy English and British Championship calendar, which helped facilitate the attendance of a total 15 elite athletes. Despite avoiding major championship races the allure of the Bamford Carnival race was too much for some and so we maybe lost a few runners as a result.

The split start worked well and as the 7pm starters climbed to the knoll the 6:30pm starters where able to offer a few words of encouragement whilst starting their descent. I was almost late for my own race but luckily I was spotted parking up as the clock ticked to 7, and everyone nicely waited for me to change shoes and complete my 100m 'warm up' to the start line. I still decided to set off hard and push for a sub 30min time and Josh must have also had the same idea! We were very close and pushed each other the whole way and at no point did I think sub 30 was out of reach. Even starting the descent form the knoll I thought we could both get it, but unfortunately in the end we both missed the cut by a few seconds. Neil completed the podium as first V40, and Holly posted a respectable time to come home first female.

All in all conditions were sub-optimal with a strong headwind on the way out along the top and some dense bracken on the lower slopes of the knoll which hindered both climbing and descending speeds. Next year we will run the classic route again but in either May or June to try and avoid the bracken.

Thank you all for attending!
Tom

Next up... December 2023, the 80th Crookstone Crashout!