Jay Jennions finally made her long awaited debut for North Wales following a summer of injury which has seen the vast majority of her training taking the form of pool running. On a slow course consisting of 4.5k along the coast leading to a hilly second act in grey, wet conditions, she managed tenth lady in a steady 43.37 despite visibly limping. The North took many prizes and Jay won a gold for being third counter of the Senior team, which won the interregional event.
Nick Chadwick and Phil Taylor spent three days in Budapest. No typical lads’ weekend this, it culminated in 13.1 miles of race in 36 degree heat. As summer decided to give Britain a miss this year, they had had no opportunity of training in anything close to such conditions so just to finish was a massive achievement in itself. As it happened they both managed extremely creditable times of 2 hours and 2 hours 15 respectively. Snowdonia should be a breeze after this one… at least it won’t be hot…
Anyone who saw Jay’s disastrous antics on the previous Tuesday night club run would be questioning her sanity in racing when even walking remains problematic. Response- 1) she’d entered ages ago 2) her friend Leanne Emberton from North Wales Road Runners was doing it too after a summer of illness and injury and 3) it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The pair started near the front with the other scary-looking club runners, having negotiated safe passage through the sea of brave but nervous charity runners thanks to their serious-looking black outfits including matching compression socks (which wasn’t deliberate). Jay, in her third outing on a twisting, blustery course, did not rush the first downhill half, knowing what was to come later. Leanne did well to stay not too far behind for the first 3k however, as the course entered its final uphill mile, her injuries caught up with her, yet she still managed to be one of the first to finish in 23.30, an excellent time in the circumstances. Jay managed to keep matters on an even keel, overtaking a couple more competitors as the race approached the final kilometre. Ultimately she came fifth in 21.31 (an “injury PB”). It’s now time to get back in the pool and finally get rid of those niggles!