The drive across the M6 and M54 was pretty horrific this morning, and was viewing the skies with some trepidation, however it brightened up and was a sunny day, if a bit of a cold wind.

Once on the top of the Mynd it was hard to get going into the headwind, but eventually picked up the pace, and all the way round it felt like I was going well, by my own standards. Was 2hrs in with a shout? It quickly became apparent that it wasn't and I resolved to make my original 2:10 target. Despite a frantic final climb I came over the line in 2-11-something, I believe in 49th place. So a pb by 6 mins, seem to be consistently improving by 6mins each year... if I continue at that rate I'll win in 2024....

My New Zealand clubmate, running his first fellrace with the exception of the OMM, started off like a hare, and sounds like he ran well up until the penultimate climb, losing about 25 places and only finishing 5 mins in front of me in 39th. He did admit the torrid final few miles did leave him legless. But I'm sure now he knows the course, and if he hadn't knocked out a very impressive XC race yesterday, then he can go much faster in future.

Hi Dave Mole, nice to see you, and I hope you got a solid outing...