Winter cross country - cold, wet, windy; dash out the car, run the race, back into the car, home to the warmth - right ?
Um, no actually.....picture a still sunny day, waves lapping the shore, next to no breeze, kids paddling at the water edge - welcome to BXC global warming style at White Sands !!
Another good turn out of runners - the weather probably helping - with over 200 runners between the seniors and juniors.
Beach start (including an intersting rock pool and seaweed section for ~100m) out and back, some dunes and stoney stuff, more beach, then back over the tussocks and footpaths - slightly longer than last year - perhaps an extra Km - nice backdrop of Barns Ness lighthouse if you had a chance to look up....
Mike Reid blasted home in 1st place (27:35), setting the early pace and opening up a substantial lead before hanging on in to win by a few seconds at the end, the field chasing him down right to the end.
Tom Hobbs found the early pace and lack of hills not best to his liking but stuck to his task and grabbed another good top10 place (10th 29:34) and another MV45 podium (3rd).
Kenny liked the fast early pace for a while before struggling on the way back a bit but hung on in for a 20th place (31:08), grabbing back a few late places with a late surge (sounds impressive...)
It was good to see Russell Anderson back in BXC action, recording 32:42 (39th), with Ian Munro (33:27 47th) not far behind.
A special mention too for Debby Hardie, flying the flag for the Moorfoot ladies, coming home in 47:42 (136th).
Gala next week - definitely not a flat one - get some hill efforts in !!!
Results here...