Four laps of Long Marston airfield near Stratford upon Avon was not an inviting prospect, but it was a Saturday which fits with Fred’s wife working so he took it upon himself to go in for a new race. He lined up at the start alongside Lee Riley who was attempting to lower his world record of 1.40.54 for the Half Marathon carrying a 40lb pack. Lee was trying for near 1.35 so Fred thought he would be a good pace guide to hang onto. Fred’s plan had been to run 7.10 miles and the conditions were perfect for it.

At the gun Lee shot off (no pun intended!) and Fred did mile 1 in 6.36 with Lee 100 yards in front of me so he tried to settle down for mile 2 but still way too fast and inside 13 minutes, but Lee was still a long way in front. From then on Fred was slowing all the time but overtook Lee on second lap and for rest of race he was about 50 yards behind. He managed to get to 6 miles in 42 minutes but after that his run deteriorated quickly with the last 7 miles averaging 7.40. Fred crossed the line in 1.36.17 which was very disappointing time for him, but still gave him first V60 which says a lot about Fred
 
Lee set a new world record of 1.36.56. Fred said “My mistake was thinking that someone who runs with a 40lb pack would run a sensible race. I suppose if you are a world record holder the normal rules for us mortals don’t apply. Overall it was a well organised race and on a windless day the laps of the airfield were not as bad as expected with no long boring straights. There is another half on same course on 19 Nov which I am considering.”