The Whitford Point race last night was great fun. It had a very relaxed feel, with mostly fairly local people rocking up, paying a tenner and running through some fantastic Gower scenery on a sunny, spring evening.
The start and HQ are in Llanmadoc on a small lane nestled amongst some little hills and the marsh. I may have started a little enthusiastically, as although I wasn’t first to the top of the starting climb I led the descent to the beach. I’m not as quick off road though, and although I was happy with the line I took across the beach and was still with the front group by the point I lost places in the soft sand, finding my line through stones, and in the dunes. I mostly held my pace and place in the run back through the woods (my sunglasses’ Chromafusion lenses adjust to changing light and were great here, on a sunny evening in and out of trees) but I didn’t feel like I was moving particularly effectively through the terrain.
I guess training on soft sand is something I have the opportunity to do around here and is a good excuse to get on the beach! I’ll be running around Whitford and Broughton again before long for sure. It’s a lovely area, and I did pay some attention to the scenery during the race.
I finished strongly, and hammered the final, short, sharp climb to the finish and was gaining on the two ahead of me so maybe my pacing wasn’t too bad. I finished in 7th place overall, which isn’t great but my effort level for the run was really good, and as this was a chance to replace a tempo session I probably got a better workout here. Lovely.
I’ve been trying to do this race for years and I’ll definitely keep my eye open for it when it comes around next year.
Here’s the Garmin data:
Hey, or Strava if that’s what you prefer (been playing with Strava for a bit):
