The usual scorching morning greeted us at Indian Queens on Sunday, though Graham Storer saw the wrong forecast and turned up in his sexy tights!  The lengths to which he’ll go to win Viv back!  Viv was inspired (or scared) into beating him by nearly 4 minutes, so he might have to wear them more often.  How he felt running in that heat with those on is beyond me.  It was bad enough for me, even with the extra ventilation of my “special” shorts that I put on by mistake and spent the first half of the race adjusting!

At the sharp end, Kev Heywood of Bideford AC showed Dave Buzza what he’s (not!) been missing recently with Danny’s absence, by slaughtering him by nearly 5 minutes.  Ouch!  Matt Pullen also had a lonely run in 3rd, until Jon Keast gave him a fright in the last 2 miles, to only finish 6 seconds down in 1 hour 19 minutes and 33 seconds and set a PB.  Obviously a lot more to come off that.

Jason Pascoe, who, with his ‘swarthy complexion’, always goes well in hot conditions, had a good one in 7th, just fighting off “Bally Boy” in the last 2 miles.  It was Adrian’s first race back since getting injured in November and he felt it towards the end, collapsing over the line.  None of the ladies in the funnel fancied helping his sweaty body up, so he had to drag himself to his feet to get a cup of water!

At last the big moment arrived, John Telford finally made his debut for CAC and nearly won the 45-49 age group, only just missing out to Nick Martin in 1.25.30 to place a fantastic 10th overall and bring the first team home for an easy win.  Suffice to say the calls for him to be traded to Carn Runners for his wife Paula have diminished markedly since Sunday!

Jo Friday was in next, first female as usual these days and a fine 14th overall with 1.26.20.  She would have been first or second team scorer for any other men’s team, which underlines how well she’s running at the moment.  She put over 4 minutes into poor Justin Thomas, who had a bit of a shocker as he usually beats Jo comfortably.  Dave Southby continued his impressive form in 55th place with 1.35.30 and is still 7th overall in the Grand Prix.  He could jump up more if he does the Cornish Marathon in November……….don’t do it, Dave!

Sarah Keast and Suzy Bosustow came in only 90 seconds apart, sandwiching Pete Torr and were a superb 6th and 7th female finishers.  The minutes ticked by as we waited for our 4th lady and yes, Jill Curtis had a great run to place 77th female in 2.15.54 and give us the 3rd ladies team prize and wine all round!

The ever-smiling Pete ran 1.39.10 for 70th and new member (though in his 3rd race for the club), Dave Norton just missed out on the top hundred with 1.43.38, showing that he’s going to be a great asset to the club.  Ken Curtis also had a good run in 1.45.42 for 115th position, before a charged up Viv came racing in and immediately went off to look for Graham.  Danny Marsh ran well for 138th, despite it being the middle of the surf life saving season and also farther than he usually trains, let alone races and then came Graham looking slightly flushed, although that might have been because he knew Viv was looking for him.  Jill was next in, followed by Sam Alexander, who is improving with every race, despite Dave managing to get the girls lost on the last two Thursday club runs, running 30 minutes too long 3 days before the race!

346 finishers