Kymin Dash 7M: 29 July 2007
All runners
| # | Pos  |
Name |
Time  |
Cat |
Club |
Pace |
| 1 | 1 | Dan Parsonage | 52:34 | V35 | Serpentine | 7:24 |
| 2 | 2 | Sioned Morgan | 56:13 | FV35 | Serpentine | 7:55 |
Race photos
Race photos are at http://www.kymindash.co.uk/gallery/
Race conditions
Fine and sunny
Report
A really enjoyable, friendly local race with 111 competitors this year. Other than us two Serpies (two others on the results list were runners from another club who formed a team with us under our name - the race organiser's initiative) the furthest afield was a group from Headington AC, who carried off the second team prize, the first being snaffled by local club Chepstow Harriers. The male and female winners, Keith Fairbanks of Cardiff AC and 40-year-old Angela Jones, a local triathlete and trail running champion, must find it a little dull not to have more competition. Even if they prefer it that way, I think a Serpie expedition next year to change things would be very interesting indeed! And it's a beautiful area with plenty of places to stay.
An organised registration in Monmouth Leisure Centre, where we were also able to use lockers and showers, gave entrants a chance to hang around and eyeball each other before the start. Dan had decided to wear his tri-suit, to frighten any bears he might meet in the woods, and as it was such a small race, this dubious tactic - from someone who knew full well he would not be finishing near the front - also succeeded in putting the willies up a few competitors, who were clearly unused to seeing anyone other than modestly attired local club runners and unattached individuals at this little race. So the vision in lycra - whom, I might add, deliberately walked the long way around from the loos to the registration desk, more than once, when he spotted a television camera outside - was observed with some trepidation. I'd be interested to know if any other Serpie males love an opportunity to prance around in their tri-suit quite as much as Dan. Anyway, by the end, they realised that he was a poser, rather than a performer. He is almost tempted to do some serious training for next year, since the winner came in 'only' eleven minutes and 31 seconds in front of him. The race was under-populated, particularly by women: I was almost embarrassed to win the female vet category with a time of 56:13. I was disappointed to be beaten by every member of Monmouth FC who had taken part - I was hoping to have the satisfaction of overtaking at least one 17 year old footballer. Oh well - next time.
Despite even more rain than normal for the area of late, the day itself was warm, sunny and fine. Some of the uphill forest paths were fairly muddy, as you might expect. Since the second half of the race was mostly downhill on country lanes, selection of footwear was tricky for those who have trail shoes that are not great for road running. I'd opted to wear my road shoes, but this wasn't the best choice for trying to climb the muddy sections, and slowed me down in spots where, instead of steadily trotting upwards, I was trying to stay upright.
The first climb started about 20 minutes in, after we did a loop of the town and picked our way through the puddles alongside the river. It's all a bit of a blur now, but there were narrow trail paths where overtaking wasn't really possible, plus a couple of really rather steep grassy slopes. Err, I think this was the Kymin...although I had no sense of being on a mountain (or was it a hill?) as I was mostly looking at my feet. I started walking and resigned myself to a truly appalling time. Dan managed to run up all the steep climbs. My temporary transformation from runner to rambler stirred up distant thoughts of Gowan asking me in plaintive tones why I didn't go to hill sessions any more: a combination of Bushy Park Time Trials, the club handicap, and Boxercise classes were not helping me now. Gowan, forgive me, I'm coming back.... I was relieved to see about five people in single file in front of me who'd also succumbed to the strain on their legs. A happy Welsh chappie placed three-quarters of the way up the steepest slope cajoled us all to start plodding again, although I was disconcerted by the question from the guy manning the stile at the top: 'Many more behind you?' ...?
A few kissing gates to dodge through, and some welcome support from residents on the latter part of the course as well as at the start and finish. The Rotary Club and a couple of policeman controlled the traffic beautifully for us at the two points where we needed to cross a road: it was eerily silent. Passing drivers on country lanes were considerate (perhaps car-driving inhabitants of Wimbledon could be shipped out to the country for a few months, to chill out and prepare themselves for the Wimbledon 10k) and a random car full of Kiwis cheered on the Serpies. Marshals helpfully told us when the downhill section started and then the race changed completely - belting it to the finish line as fast as possible with legs that still felt relatively fresh. Aha, so this is why it's called the Dash. Well, from my perspective, anyway, but of course some people could scamper the entire distance with only minor changes of pace. The atmosphere at the finish line was supportive and the spectators particularly enjoyed a bit of last-chance overtaking on the final sprint - the view being spectator and participant-friendly with a run-up to the line across the town recreation ground.
Monmouth has no running club. The organisers, who are locals, numbering a good few elderly volunteers as marshals among them, plus some Monmouth Festival committee and Rotary Club members, were charming. There was quite a lot of whinging on the RW website about a lack of t-shirts. For those that are concerned about such things, this has been sorted and now everyone who finishes gets one. Overall, a great experience and a bit of fun to turn up as outsiders, even if we didn't give many people a run for their money!
I'd also like to plug 'Offa's Orror', organised by Chepstow Harriers, which is an exhilarating 20k x/c race in April. This distance might tempt a few more Serpies, perhaps? Lots of pictures from this year and further details are on the Chepstow Harriers website if anyone's interested.
Sioned Morgan
Result queries
If you have any queries about these results please email results@serpentine.org.uk