Flagpole Run Up

Did my first ever trail/mountain running race this past Saturday, the The Shoe Clinic Flagpole Run Up. It was a 20km race up Flagpole hill near Whitecliffs, with the first 5km climbing up to the 897m high summit of Flagpole, then down into the Selwyn rive and back to the start area. I haven't been running a great deal and it was predicted that I would go out hard and then fade even harder. Not one to disappoint I went out in the lead group, was in 2nd for a time and reached the top of Flagpole in 3rd place. I grabbed some water, throwing it over me, only to discover it was sports drink! I had to stop and get water to get the sticky stuff off me and fell back into 5th place. I knew with a lack of running, my legs would struggle on the down and 3rd and 4th place pulled away from me. I was relived to cross through the Selwyn 12 time's as it was very hot and my pace slow more and more. Lucky I was far ahead of the chase group when I really hit the wall and managed to hold on to 5th place, which turned out to be 2nd in the open men's. The top 3 were all 40yrs old and over! I finished in a time of 1hr40min. Jane had a similar race to me, being in 5th place until around 5km to go, when she hit the wall and was pasted by multiply racers. Jane was pretty happy with her race and time of 2hr14min Was a great little race, with around 250 people competing. Next big race on the calendar is the Avalanche Peak Challenge, 23km, up Avalanche Peak and out the Crow river!