by Simon Parsons.
So today marked the last event of the 2022/23 Derby Runner X Country League season and today we were flying the Wreake flag at the historic Bosworth Battlefield for 5.1 miles of fun. Captains Bushy and Jellyman do a great job arriving early and bagging us a prime tent spot, but with Bushy on a cultural trip to Rome, it was left in Jellyman’s capable hands and the tent was up and flags flying as Christian and I arrived! Unfortunately the good ship Wreake, was lacking crew members today and after some moments of blind optimism that the cavalry would arrive, it became apparent that Captain Jellyman would not be able to field either ladies or mens teams today. Faced with this reality, Smurf took the sensible decision not to run (and not risk aggravating an injury) so we were down to a merry band of 6 taking on the course.
Part of the appeal of these races is that they are all a bit different. In my opinion this one is on the tougher side with quite a lot of undulations and a hefty amount of field running. That said, it has a bit of everything with some trail and wood sections also. This year the Bosworth Bog was back but the absence of recent rain meant it wasn’t really bearing its teeth and none of our crew lost any shoes to it this year!!! Leading our team home was John White, who had already wrapped up P2 in his individual age category. His plan was to have an easy run but we can all guess how that went! Another great run and a fantastic season from him.
Fiona Bates continued her excellent season, being the first and only Wreake lady. Well done Fiona. As for me, I’m used to being last man home; so continued that trend! It really doesn’t matter, as this is a great team environment and my 191st place is still loads better than a no score. Whilst I rarely trouble scoring, I like to compare efforts to previous year, and was happy to be 7 minutes quicker this year! Hopefully can take that into the summer league races.
It looks like we’re relegated a division this year but I’d really encourage everyone to get involved in November when we start up again. It’s great fun and a real social event. I’ll sign off with a fantastic picture of the start – what a great way to capture the madness that is X Country running.