LIFA Cross country - Aulnay sous Bois

This was the moment I'd been dreading: arriving at the Parc Départemental at Aulnay to see plenty of runners, loads of mud and hills galore. I wandered around to begin with looking for the St Germain tent, in vain, and it was only when I thought that the others hadn't yet arrived that Miguel came up to me and showed me the base camp, hidden behind the sausage and chips wagon !

The smell of a good sausage and chips was far more tempting than undressing and getting my running kit on, so I hung around, waiting for the race to be cancelled so that I could go home. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be so I chatted with the others from the club: Eric, Bruno W, Thierry, José and Régis. We all knew that this was to be our last race of the cross-country season as none of us were talented enough to get through this round and onto the nationals afterwards.

After a short warm-up with Régis, we lined up at the start, in starting block number 3, all 6 of us, joking around and waiting for the gun. The marshalls checked that nobody's toes were over the start line and then the gun went. The gun went again - false start !! Marvellous, just when I hoped it was going to be all over with, back we went again to line up in our box. The gun went again, for good this time, and we were off.

I settled into an easy rhythm, not wanting to tire too early, knowing that I would be towards the back of the race anyway. The course was well mapped and involved a large circuit of the park (3km around each loop) to be run 3 times. There were 2 large hills to be negotiated on each lap and we hit the first at the end of the sprint start. I was about 30th from the back of the race and a couple of runners ahead of Régis. I could see José just ahead and Miguel was there on the side of the course to tell me that I'd made a good start and to keep it up.

After the initial burst at the start, the race settled down quickly and there wasn't much changing of places as we went around the first lap. I was listening to the breathing of the runners around me and I could tell that they were suffering as much as I was. This continued into the second lap and then towards the end of the second, Régis came past, just before the second hill of the lap. I couldn't match his speed up the hill and having made the break I wasn't able to get back to him again. My motivation dropped at this point and I only wanted to finish, but there was still a lap to do.

Miguel encouraged me as I passed him again. He told me to chase the 2 runners ahead and to take them before the end. I focused on this task and closed them down and overtook them and on the back straight of the third lap and then I just concentrated on running hard until the finish.

I sprinted to the line and finished in 37:11 in 163rd position (out of 189 finishers). Régis had made almost 30 seconds on me and Thierry was only 6 seconds in front of him. Overall I was pleased with my race and my performance was in line with expectations. Régis just showed again what a great cross-country runner he is. Thank God all of that is over until next year now.

Area cross-country championship

Last year this race was held in Franconville and I suffered defeat at the hands (or rather feet) of my closest rival in cross-country racing, Régis. Today the same scenario looked to repeat itself as Régis beat me again 2 weeks ago at St Quentin and is in good form, especially over cross-country routes.

I arrived with plenty of time to spare, having missed the others at the meeting point in St Germain, I drove by myself to the mecca of cross-country running, Antony. Actually, Antony is a Parisien suburb just south of Paris and is well known for its local specialities of ... high-rise blocks of flats. There was nothing exciting about this course as when I looked at the aerial photo of the course its course was basically designed around the 3 playing fields in the centre of Antony. In fact, if I hadn't been part of the St Germain team, I don't think I would have bothered turning up in the first place.

Too late, I had arrived now and the first good news was that the course wasn't half as bad as I had expected. It was full of twists and turns, plenty of mud and some nice little short hills and technical areas. The ladies race was first for the off. Mireille ran well finishing in the top ten, followed by Gaëlle, Françoise, Catherine and Aude. I warmed up with the other veterans: Thierry, Régis, Bruno, José, Eric, Olivier and Bruno W. My plan for the race was simple: since I wasn't worried about my time or qualifying for the next round, the only aim was to beat Régis. I decided I would stay on his shoulder and pick up the pace in the latter half of the race.

The gun went off and I set off slower than usual, just tagging alongside Régis. Actually, I discovered afterwards that it wasn't as slow as I thought: 3:46 for the first kilometre, then 3:45 for the second. I pushed on past Régis between the first and second kilometre as I felt good in my legs and I thought that I could keep it up. With all the twists and turns in the course, I was able to see my progress over him and I quickly built up a lead of 20 metres or so.

The race was over 9.65 km and when I got to 5km, I could feel I was beginning to tire slightly and Régis began to close the gap between us. He had said beforehand that he would accelerate at this point and I feared the worst. I maintained the pace and was running at around 4:00 per km now. The gap stayed constant at around 10 metres and I watched closely around every corner just to see how he was fairing. We got to the final lap and I was determined that he wasn't going to overtake me now. I pushed a little harder and began overtaking some runners in front of me. I must have gained at least 10 places over this final lap and Régis was still there.

At 600 metres to go, I looked at the watch and decided that it was now or never. I lengthened my stride again and headed for the finish. I gave everything and was bent over double at the end. Régis finished about 5 metres behind me, 2 seconds afterwards. I was delighted to have held him off and feel that I'm getting back some form, thanks to the interval training with the club.

The bad news ... both Régis and I qualified for the next round. We've got to go through this all again and the only motivation will be not to finish last.

9.65k in 38:08 or an average of 3:57 per km. Pretty chuffed.