Date: 1st January 2006
Race Type: Off Road Hilly Run
Distance: 12 km
Location: Box Hill, Dorking Surrey
http://www.trionium.com/knackercracker/
This was to be our first race of the year, and what a race, 12km of off road running around the Box Hill area of the North Downs, described by the race Organisers as
“A run for hearty man fellows and lady fellows, mostly on rough tracks, and including superb views over the North Downs, the Mole Gap, Denbies Vineyard, and Dorking.”
Gary had decided at an early stage that a New Years day race was no competition for a belly full of beer on new years eve and a full roast dinner round his mums with his feet up watching the footy on SKY!
Of course Steve and myself are made of much tougher stuff and we both had training plans worked out well in advance of the race.
Steve planned to do some high altitude work, hoping that the lack of oxygen on the South Downs overlooking Eastbourne would work in his favour when it came to Box Hill.
I was spending a week at a training camp in the canaries trying to avoid the lure of the pool, sun loungers and ice-cold beer.
As new years eve loomed I managed to go down with the old “tom tits” and Steve developed a full blown head cold. So much for our preparation everything started to fall apart at the last minute, frantic phone calls and text messages confirmed that neither of us would be taking part.
So there we have it, Gary was the only one who managed to save his money on the race entry, one belly ache and one runny nose and we have already missed the first race of the season.
Keith Johnson