Paul Woodhouse

Sunday 8.00am Corbould Park Race Course Sunshine Coast

12KM 2nd (1st M40) 42m17s

3KM 1st (1st M40) 10m08s

I ran this event two years ago when rain made the clay soil pretty sticky. Today was very different. No rain for a good while meant the course was bone dry and very rutted in parts.
Quite treacherous in places!
Standard pattern again adopted for this race, however, having had a day off on Saturday as opposed to a 22K run meant that I was fresh for a change.
At the start I might have led for a couple of hundred metres before Ben Holland came past.
I thought I might be able to hold onto him for longer but was mistaken! Peter Bock and Tri guy came past (No Neil Labinsky this week). The course comprised four 3K laps . A lap comprised an out and back 1500m. We don't run on the race course but on the outside section. So one does experience the twists turns ups and downs of cross country! Anyhow I managed to real back Peter and try guy just after the first 1500m turnaround point. That was that for the rest of the race - no further movements. Ben drifted off into the hazy distance and tri guy and Peter drifted back though not enough for me to rest easy. In fact I had hoped that I might be able to break the M40 race record for this course so I dug hard. 1st 3K lap in 10m00, second lap 6K ran through in about 20m39 and third lap 9KM in 31m30 . The last 500m of the course was on good even flat grass and when I hit this point on the last lap I gave it all I had hard into the finish. I missed the Race Record of 41m59sec by Paul Woodhouse by 18secs. That race Record is going to be one tough nut to crack!
As I finished I felt a new sensation!!
I've run on and off for nearly 40 years but I've never puked at the end of a race (or training session) but I wretched at the end of this race!
Fortunately nothing in my stomach to chunder so my dignity was saved! But shows I must have run myself pretty damn hard. 42Min's is 35Min's 10K pace.
Lined up for the 3Km 20Min's later. The normal gung Ho of the younger guys in this combined Open and Masters Men at the start. Soon settled down with Jordan Pearce taking it out pretty quick. He must have had 50metres on me at the 1500m turnaround but then I caught him up pretty quickly. Unlike last race I managed to go past him with a significant pace to prevent him from latching onto me. Again when I got to the 500m to go grass run in I hammered it, to take a M40 course record 10m08 victory. Some consolation for missing the 12K record!