Snake Lane 10 Report

By Stephen Robson

When we look back at the winter of 2013/2014, we’ll marvel at how little snow and ice we’ve had to deal with. Granted it’s been wet, but runners are a hardy bunch who can deal with that. What we don’t like however is wind, and this last couple of months has offered it up in abundance. Today was no exception, and the Snake Lane 10, which winds around the surrounding countryside of Pocklington, promised to be a blustery affair.

The Snake Lane 10 has been going on for many years now, and it has become a pretty slick operation. The infamous problems at the start line in past years seem to have been remedied, and the marshals all know their stuff and can just get on with it. This is all good, as the last thing anyone wants 2 minutes before the start is someone shouting at a mass of nearly a thousand runners to move back 6 feet.

The race set off on time, and the first 4½ miles were delightful with the wind behind us. I felt like I was Superman, almost effortlessly winding around the lanes at a pace that would set a PB for 10km, never mind 10 miles. Unfortunately my dreams of an easy ride were soon shattered at Bishop Wilton, when we turned into the fierce wind and it showed us the full force of its fury. With nothing to shelter us we had no choice but to grit our teeth, dig in and make the best of the rest of the race.

The wind stuck with us all the way to the finish line, taunting us, almost mocking us for arrogantly setting such a fast first half. Runners with fancy gizmos on their wrists could only look on in horror as they saw their average pace getting consistently slower. There would be very few negative splits today, but could we still make it to the end with a time we’d be proud of? Had our winter training been enough to power through the hard times? The answer varies for each runner, but everyone who fought their own personal battle and made it to the end can feel proud. Winter Training one – Mother Nature zero.

A strong showing of 16 York Knavesmire Harriers took to the roads, despite this not being an official club run for us this year. This is a testament to how much we’ve come to love this race, and whatever the weather throws at us it remains one of the highlights of the local racing calendar.

35th – Jason Higgins 01:01:57
82nd – Stephen Robson 01:05:19
96th – Nicholas Tutill 01:06:06
132nd – Pete Downes 01:07:28
158th – Ewan Cochrane 01:08:49
215th – Nick Griffin 01:11:28
298th – Mike Smith 01:15:15
406th – Stuart Ambler 01:20:22
412th – Ian Bithell 01:20:43
454th – John Middleton 01:21:55
683rd – Vivianne Fraser 01:36:09
685th – Clare Moffatt 01:36:19
725th – Darren Leaf 01:41:37
726th – Jane Carter 01:40:46
794th – Paul Adams 02:00:25
802nd – Susan Adams 02:10:21

The full results are here

Well done to everyone!