The dry spell continued. The race was said to be virtual, but make no mistake - the sweat was real. Entrants lined up from all around the world, from Edinburgh to Essex, Whitley Bay to Cornwall, and South Africa to New Zealand, from the get go this was set to be the most hotly contested race of 2020 so far.

Gary Thapa from Cerist Tri posted an early fast time on Friday as he had to work on Saturday, this was the benchmark in the male category. Shortly after Marissa O'Leary from New Zealand posted a benchmark for the ladies, including an impressive 525m of height gain.

Route plans were racing through runner's heads, fast and flat, or steady and up? In the end Chris Mclean went fast AND up to take the crown. Chris was part of a strong contingent from Cerist Tri, based in Machynlleth. Ronnie Hollington clocked a swift 70 minute raw time, a noticeable height gain, and a little age grading took him into 2nd position. It was great to see Arwel Price sticking down enough height gain and considerable age grading assistance to come in 3rd, a clever race strategy form the Cerist Tri veteran.

Meanwhile in the female category, Janet from Cornwall (Mounts Bay Harriers) took the ladies title with a solid 80 minute raw time, the age grading nudged her past Marissa O'Leary's height gain, and Karen Bowman's equally fast time. Both Chris and Janet also won our Virtual Half Marathon, can they be beaten?

PRIZE WINNERS

Chris Mclean (first male)

​Janet Haynes (first female)

Chris Mclean (most male HG)

Angie Edwards (most female HG)

Chris Laughton (best strava art)

Paul Williams (best photo of you lying down or similar)

No entries (best fancy dress)

WORTHY OF NOTE

Angie Edwards completed 710m of height gain, a bold strategy from the 68 year old gave her the overall height gain title (male and female). Brad Williams and Paul Williams (both from North Endurance) posted raw times of 65 minutes and 67 minutes respectively. Dan Attridge got injured last week so completed the 10 miles by walking it.

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The photo competition was very hard to judge, in the end I had to give it to Paul Williams for originality. The Strava Art competition saw two strong contenders, last time's winner Alice Green, and the outright winner Chris Laughton with his Dyfi Sheep.

NEXT RACE - 31st May

The ROCKY 10K. There will be no age grading (too much time on spreadsheets!), but there will be Talbot's rule.

PRIZE WINNERS

Please send me your address!

You're all winners :-)

Mike