Race Report: Pattingham Bells 7m

I opted to run this race and despite my best attempts at recruiting any fellow striders to come and join me I was alas a lone strider on the start line. Some said because I mentioned it being in that Black Country capital that is Wolverhampton others told me that they simply thought that it must be a shady tough hilly brutal type run as it was only 7 miles and I was doing it. 

In fact they were all wrong, it was in fact in Pattingham which although is close to Wolverhampton is in fact a gorgeous village on the Shropshire / Staffordshire border. Also it was although a slightly hilly/undulating off road course, very runnable and straight forward with great marshals and a real nice village community feel to it. 



I first done this race 6 years ago coming in at a sluggish 1hr29 mins which was celebrating  the 20th year of the race itself. At the time I had only been running about 9 months and hadn’t even joined the Striders until a month later.  I couldn’t believe it had been so long and had fond memories of the race and the medal that was for finishing it. The winner that year was the over 40s British Olympic champion a postman if I remember from err, Wolverhampton. 

This year’s race was again well attended with club members from many of the local clubs donning their club vests and official British athletic running shorts. I opted for the club vest and lycra shorts despite thinking I was going to be a little on the cold side and am glad I did as the weather during the race was gorgeous and warm. 

The race got underway and takes in a couple of open field and with me dumping my previous strategy of always starting at the back and working my way through the field , I went for a go for it from the start and give it all I have. This was to be a bold move and one that would of course come back and haunt me at a later stage. As we left the first field and then the second we moved on to gravel track which began a slow long ascent. I was quite pleased with my position of about 15th at this 600 meter mark out of close to 300 runners, in fact so pleased was I that I even contemplated how I would remain in this position. Alas, by the mile point I had recorded a 7 min 20 min mile and slipped to about 60. That in itself was so demoralising as it actually meant about 40 people had come past me in about 1000 meters. Not to be out done and still climbing quite a long hill up a winding track my strategy changed from potential top 20 finish to err, finish!! I had completely lost it and found myself hanging on for dear life to just make mile 2 and then 3. Eventually I picked up again and got going and was rewarded with a couple of nice gentle downhill slopes and at this point I could hear the bells. No I wasn’t thinking I was living in a place in Paris and had become Quasimodo, but these were the bells of the Pattingham church which the locals ring when the man in the bell tower can see the first runner coming. At this point I must have been about 4-5 miles in which meant a huge difference between me and the leader and consequently my chances of winning this fantastic race were gone. I had a few chats with those around me and before I knew it I was coming up the final uphill stretch and back to the village. 

I crossed the line in 1hr9 which was in fact 10 mins quicker than what I done all those years ago so I should have been quite pleased. What I could not believe was how I had been so stupid and with literally 100s of races under my belt now, I made the very same mistake I would have made in my first 10. 

All in all a very enjoyable run in the trails around Pattingham and definitely one for your calendar for next year and it comes with a fantastic medal/iron work.