Coniston 14+ Road Race Saturday 9th April 2011. By Mark Lysycia

If I had a choice I would rather not have raced 16.75 miles on one of the hottest days of the year so far.

 

This  very hilly, tough but popular yearly road race which in the past has attracted up to 1500 runners  has been down the last two years mainly due to the extra 2.75 miles the runners have to do as flood damage to a bridge has not been sorted.

 

The last time I had covered this distance was the same race last year so I was slightly   nervous as  I had  not  put in a lot of miles into  my training.

 

I set off from my house at 7.30am with  Barry Allman who  came for the ride and to give me some support and be the  photographer for the day,so cheers for that Baz!

 

Arrived at Coniston  9.10am,already the temperature was in the upper teens. The atmosphere at these races is fantastic with many local Northwest  clubs and many from around the UK.

 

One minute I was on the starting point chatting to a few Wigan runners the next thing the gun went off and that was it. It's  about this point when I say to myself "why" as I can think of more enjoyable things to do on a Saturday.  But as we all know,that feeling soon passes once we get "into" the race.

 

I can only describe this race as extremely hard and I  took water on board at all the stations,some extra ones had been put up due to the heat.

 

I saw many runners walking and several looking seriously dehydrated. It seems many also pulled out as the temperature took its toll.

 

 

The stats are as follows:-

 

1089 finished

 

19 did not finish

 

 

"Marathon Mon" Malcolm Collins came 107th    2.07.57    24th in his category. Malc looked like he had not broken into a sweat.He can do a run like that before his breakfast!

 

"Jacket Mon" Mark Lysycia   125th 2.10.06  10th in age category

 

Steve Eldridge  485th  2.33.29  74th in age category

 

After crossing the line  and a few snaps from Barry,it was a quick change into my backup A+T vest(promoting  the club what else) and off to the pub to enjoy a cool  pint of  bluebird draft ale  and a large plate of chips.

 

A Great day was had by all  and I believe next year it should be back to the usual 14 miles which I'm sure will tempt even more runners as the scenery is breathtaking and it's worth the trip just for that alone.

 

 

Mark