Roaches 15m 3700ft

After last years race here I decided to go back and give it another go. The weather was much better than previous with plenty of sun and a slight freezing breeze but the mud was just as deep and the river just as cold.
After about 1.5 miles five of us pulled away with Dave Aucott from Dark Peak doing most of the work for the first 4 miles. We all stayed fairly close until the turning point where I pulled some ground back on the climb and then got a nice little gap on the run off the hill and down the road. I decided to take it easy on the remaining climbs after last year and make sure I had enough to finish. By the water crossing on the way back no one was in sight and it was just a matter of holding onto it. With about 2 miles to go and just fields to run over I started feeling heavy and had to a walk through parts of the field that were deep with mud when I glanced behind to see I was being chased down by Stephen Pyke of Staffordshire Moorlands. I just about crossed the line on two feet in first place and a time of 2.08.16 with Stephen only 16 secs behind. This was a massive improvement on last years result when I finished 86th in a time of 2.52.