The Sara Killey Walk today was held in near perfect conditions - very little wind and not too warm. Though it was good to see the odd bit of sun and some hope that summer might be coming soon!
Firstly, congratulations to Michael George for an excellent walk and a thoroughly deserved win. Mike went out quickly from the start and led all the way to the end. Well done to Dave Walker for a superb walk, holding off the challenge from Vinny Lynch to finish third and also to Michelle Turner - first lady home. As far as I am aware the results haven't been published yet, but there seemed to be a few PBs today. Also, a mention to Ed, my fellow blogger, who I saw towards the end of the walk and he was looking comfortable with the technique still good, which should bode well for the Parish.
As for my walk, I was delighted to finished second (again, behind Michael), but knocked over 11 minutes off last year's time and I was feeling a lot stronger at the end than last year. I said before the race that I didn't think I could get under 5 hours, so to do 4:54:04 for 50km was great.
Gone are the days when these longer walks start off at a nice relaxed pace, where you can have a chat and take a few miles to warm up, as Mike stretched the field from the off. From Peel to Kirk Michael I walked with Dave, Vinny, Peter Kaneen, Jock Waddington and Shaun Dean as we tried to chase Michael down. We got close at Kirk Michael Fire Station but he pulled away again. At Jurby Dave, Jock and I again got within touching distance, but Michael stepped it up once more. I've attached the mile split times from my Garmin below and as you can see from mile 11, the next 6 miles were all 9 minute miles or less and we still couldn't catch him!!!
Between Jurby and the Lhen I pulled away from Dave and whilst I could see Michael all the way to finish I just couldn't get close enough to mount a serious challenge. Whilst I slowed down towards the end, my mile splits didn't tail off that much and I'm pleased with an average of 9.22 minutes per mile.
Finally, a big thanks to the IOM Fire Service for putting on another well supported event and to all the marshalls and other volunteers for giving up their time today and hopefully a decent amount of money was raised for the Fire Fighters Charity.
Well done Rich, a brilliant effort. Thanks for the encouragement, I must have been at a good point for my technique to look anywhere near good after that distance - it only managed to last the distance in fits and starts!
ReplyDeleteYes that's a huge PB though unfortunately, it will remain unofficial. Well done and thanks for your kind comments.
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