This was to be my first race for over six months and as I lined up at the back of the start funnel with only 62 miles to go (!) I realised that this was probably going to hurt. The course was to be eight laps of 12.5km and although there was a decent length fire road start this soon went into quite narrow single track and as expected this meant that anyone not at the front in the start funnel would potentially get held back for a while waiting for the congestion to die down.

My first few laps went fine although I soon realised that I would be coming through the start/finish area at virtually the exact time that the 50km and 25km races would start and this proved to be carnage for me as not only did I almost get mown down in the feed zone whilst pitting for a fresh bottle but I also got slowed up again as all the just starting riders hit the first single track bottleneck!

Another couple of laps later and the pain and discomfort were really starting to kick in. The Thetford Backache was coming along nicely and this was accompanied by a growing feeling of nausea from gels and power drink which when added to the heat was proving to be a less than enjoyable combination! Losing your concentration at Thetford is also fatal and at about this point in the race I was involved in an impromptu tree-hugging incident that amazingly scuffed the skin on my butt but didn’t even damage my shorts (big up the Pearl Microsensor material!).

When things aren’t going too well in a race all sorts of things go through your mind and this is where being able to force yourself to keep going really pays off dividends as there are usually quite a few more lessons you learn from finishing a bad race than from a good one. With seven laps gone all I could think about was getting to the finish line and off my bike although rather bizarrely I was actually starting to feel better at this point.

My ever smiling Hubby was waiting for me at the line (having just taken a cracking 5th place in his race) and much to my surprise I had taken first vet female finisher so I then had to haul myself onto the podium for a photo (which is actually harder than you think when your back has seized up!). I gave a few garbled words to Joolze Dymond who would be putting together various reports for the event and also caught up for quick chats with Jenn H and Kate B who I hadn’t seen since the end of last season - both had posted great results in the Open class.

I finally wobbled back to the car to get changed hallucinating about my cheese and marmite sandwich.

The following GR2 items of kit made it on to the podium this time:

o Pearl Vertex Microsensor Shorts
o Skins Sleeveless compression top
o Odlo light vest
o Pearl Originals Equipe socks
The beauty of these marathon events are that you can approach them however you wish in that you can either race them flat out or you can just tootle round and enjoy the experience. There are 25km and 50km distances on offer starting at noon for those maybe working up to a full marathon (or just plain wanting more of a lie in!) with the full 100km of pain and suffering available starting at 10am. There are open and veteran (over 40) classes available for each distance so if you fancy having a go hop on to www.xcracer.com to check out more details of the next one which is at Sherwood Pines on 13th May and if you are there don’t forget to come and say hello!

NEXT RACE REPORT : Specialized Enduro 6 at Catton Park 29th April 2007

Photographs will be here soon! In the meantime check out www.joolzedymond.com for the very best inspiration to get on a bike.