RiverAyr Challenge 2010

Photo Courtesy of John Kynaston

It was the final race in the SUMS calendar,The River Ayr Challenge, i woke  up at 05:00 as i was arranging to pick up Gavin Harvey at 06:00 in the west end, we arrived at the Citadel around 7am, i said a quick hello to John Kynaston and had a chat with John McLaughlin (from my old club Springburn Harriers) before picking up my number,shortly afterwards 2 buses appeared to take us out to the start at Glenbuck. on the way out there was a threat of rain but once we arrived it was fine we assembled in a small car park before being asked to head down to the side of Glenbuck Loch for some photographs , then it was back to the car park to start. we headed down a short hill then turned right through a gate on to the path, at this point Grant Jeans had opened up a good distance between himself and the rest of the field, i settled in and ran with Kenny Valentine until 10 Miles after this i had moved in to second place at around 12 Miles, Marco came jogging by and told me that Grant was a minute ahead.i continued along and before i knew it myself and Grant were running along together when we came into Sorn we came through the checkpoint crossed the road and turned right up a hill and had went about 800 metres when Marco drove up and told us that we had taken a wrong turn, so it was all the way back to the main road, we continued to run together until around 22 Miles before Grant was off on his own. by 32 Miles i came around a path and missed the gate on the left as i turned back i met George Cairns coming towards me, we stopped and looked at the "trick bits" that i had downloaded and laminated as we looked at them we saw the gate on the left  that took us back on to the road, we ran together for a mile but i could feel my legs starting to struggle as George pulled away, this left me lying in 3rd place.i arrived at a water station at 39 miles  when i could see a white vest approaching it was George Cairns again,he must have taken a wrong turn, i let George go because i didn't have much left to respond with, just then Gavin Harvie passed me so i got myself back running as we came into the town centre i could see Gavin in the distance crossing over a bridge as i got in to the Town Centre i took a bridge too early and ended up in amongst the shoppers, i managed to get back on track and before i knew it i could see the Citadel and the Finish Line, i crossed in 5:31 i was just glad to see the finish line.Gavin had then told me that he beat George in to 2nd place. i knew before the race that i had done enough training to see me through but what i have learned from today was that i set off too fast, but the positives are that i ran a mile more than the Stride and finished 10 minutes quicker and i was 2 places better off finishing 4th. i will now have a few days rest before starting my winter training schedule. (Results)