Wymondham 20m 08 March 2009 Nigel Coates reports: This is a two lap course on country roads that was well marshalled and relatively traffic free. It is not as hilly as the Bury 20, but there was a strong breeze blowing today that tested you a bit. Good to have a race with no park and ride car parks. ...and Alistair Cooke reports: Wymondham (pronounced Wind-om) certainly lived up-to it's name, as upon arrival there was a definite fresh breeze to welcome the runners. Alistair drove with fellow Lintonians Bridget and Kate down to their first ever 20 mile run, so the 1h 20min journey down was full of long-run pep talks, tips and general comments of "we must be mad". The start was a small walk away from Race HQ, but unfortunately in the middle of what can be best described as a town centre wind tunnel. With so many runners stripped down to the bare essentials (well the sun was out) there were plenty of goose-bumps to be seen. Fortunately the race set off on time at 10.00am and we were soon heading out of Wymondham for the 20miles ahead. The race was brilliantly organised, with plenty of marshals and water stops (although I would've liked to have seen one extra because of the warmer conditions at 18-19 miles). The countryside around Wymondham was glistening in the spring sunshine, although the sometimes biting wind which really was swirling around did make the run a little harder than you usually expect. Don't let anyone tell you this run is flat...there are a few bumps along the way, and one climb upwards at about 19 miles which today was straight into a headwind - thankfully I was pretty much running alone at this point so no-one heard my profane choice of words. We made all it across the line, we didn't though get to see Nigel afterwards, he must've already been home with a hot cup of tea by the time we finished. But a great effort from the 20mile debutants, all three of us were within about 5 minutes of each other, and despite the pain of walking about 3/4 mile back to race HQ afterwards, we were very chuffed by our times. And for me - 22 minutes quicker my previous best for 20 miles so a great day out and very glad to have missed completely the impending storm as we were driving home down the A11. Ps: Bridget thanks for the hot-cross buns....awesome and went down a treat with the mug of coffee afterwards! And some links to pictures: 1. Nigel looking composed 2. Wake up Alistair!!! 3. Bridget and Kate (too cool for school….) 4. oooh the pain …..classic photo of Al!!! 5. Bridget/Kate share a joke