Race Report: Southport Mad Dog 10k 09/02/2014

Five intrepid Sandbach Striders (plus a guest) braved the savage Southport wind last Sunday to run with the Mad Dogs along the Southport coastline in search of the elusive PB, which while a tough ask given the conditions WAS achieved by one hardy Strider despite the conditions.

The weather was overcast as I set of to meet up with Helen, a former colleague and long-time friend, to drive to Southport for what would be my 4th Southport Mad Dog run, and my first since my recent lung surgery, and I wasn’t looking forward to the weather forecast for the run. With winds gusting to 48mph it promised to be a challenging morning with chances of a PB being pretty unlikely. We arrived nice and early and walked down to the school which housed the ‘nerve centre’ of the race where we collected our very nice technical t-shirts and then met up with the other runners from Sandbach Striders (as well as me there was Paul Barnett, Tom Mayall, Karen Lovatt and Dave Parr). After a brief chat and an agreement to meet up after the race, we set off to drop off our bags and make our way to the start line, which was packed. As we stood in the cold, wind start area, I realised just what a tough run today was going to be. Within a couple of minutes we were moving up to the start line and as we passed the Mad Dog mascot we were serenaded with “Who let the dogs out?” as we howled and ran off on our journey.
Now several months ago Helen (who is a seasoned runner with many half marathons, a marathon and a few 10k under her belt, but had had a 6 year and 2 children break) had decided that she wanted to run a 10K and signed up for this one on the basis of hopefully running it in under 52 minutes. After an injury strewn training she was relatively certain that 52 minutes was a high hope to achieve so I told her that we would aim for sub 50 – she laughed… nervously…

Lining up at the start.

We ran off the start and Helen set quite a brisk pace, so I ran ahead and kept my pace just ahead of hers to give her a pacer to follow. We ran up the road from the start and turned left onto the promenade for a straight 3 mile run along the coast to pass under the Southport pier before the turn inland – and ran straight into the teeth of what can only be described as a savage wind. I ran to the seaward side of Helen, trying to keep her on my left side and slightly behind me to try and give her a bit of shielding from the wind as we frankly ran on, falling forward as we ran to try to combat the gusts blowing in across the Southport beach. Runners were stopping within the first mile to walk and a couple even turned back, and it was obvious that everyone was trying really hard to make headway. Despite the conditions Helen was setting a keen pace, though slower than my planned target pace, and we struggled on past the annual Drum team, past Elvis (struggling to sing, give high-fives and keep his wig on in the wind) and passed under the pier before finally turning left away from the promenade road.

One of the bands playing to the runners en route.

Bliss! The wind shifted firstly to our rear right side and then as we turned again to run down the side of the park and boating lake it was at our backs. Our pace increased and we were now moving at a fair old pace and the 50 minute target was looking do-able again. Turning back toward the promenade we were temporarily buffeted by gusts of wind but then turned right for the run for home. Every step where you bounced up off each foot you felt propelled by the wind, which now became an ally, and Helen was pushing hard, replying with one word answers when I checked if she was ok, but she had the bit between her teeth now and was focussed on the finish. As we passed the 9K marker we were just over 45 minutes so I egged Helen on and pushed for the finish. We took the last right turn and as we ran for the line Helen slowed slightly as the pace finally started to take its toll. I slowed to let her catch up and shouted at her that it was just a bit more effort and she’d be finished – she dug deep and sped up for the final push, and as we crossed the line and I stopped my Garmin the time read 49 minutes and 46 seconds. I was delighted with sub 50 just 1 month after having a section of my right lung removed by keyhole surgery, but even more delighted for Helen who, well, who actually couldn’t speak. As she recovered and we walked down the finishing funnel (picking up a well stuffed goody bag and a banana along the way) she was stunned that she had managed under 50 minutes.

There were only two competitors in the wheelchair race who set off 5 minutes before the main runners.

We returned to the sports hall where the t-shirt collection area was based and after a short wait all the other Striders joined us. After the obligatory chat about how tough the conditions had been we were all delighted to find that one of our group had managed to set a new PB, even having to go back after collecting their goody bag as it didn’t have a medal in it.

Karen Lovatt had set out to try and crack 60 minutes but on the day the wind had been just too much to achieve that, but… she crossed the line in 60:12, a new PB by about a minute! The rest of us didn’t fare quite as well – I posted a final time of 49:27, which I was delighted by; Paul came in first Strider with a chip time of 44:54, Tom posted a 49:13 and Dave crossed the line in 51:03.

And so, windswept and interesting, the mad dogs once again dispersed and the Southport seafront fell silent… until next year…

For more details visit the Mad Dog 10k website.

Steve T.