The hot weather brought out the crowds, flocking to see their favourite BVH stars battle it out over 5k. At times the scene resembled the Tour de France with crowds on both sides pushing for a glimpse of Jensen or a flash of Twa and barely enough room for the runners to get through. At least I think they were there to cheer us on and not to watch Shakespeare in the Park. One lady in particular gave us all a warm glow when she encouraged us on with a shout of "Get off the public footpath!"
The race had some quality in it. A group of 7 quickly got away and looked magnificent. Entering the last lap this was down to 3 and with about 800m to go it was between Deere and Bickley. One was clearly suffering more than the other. Into the final straight they were still neck and neck (like that Chicago marathon - you know the one) until finally Bickley's 800m speed showed through and he pipped Deere to the post. I will not ruin Ed's day by telling you which Bickley won. (Although the phrase "Bickley sandwich" was used at the end to describe the race).
To the actors who had to compete with my bike bell and shouts of "Runners coming through": I doth apologise. To the girls who spoke to us at the end: See you next time! To the lady whom we apparently inconvenienced by all of half a second: Happy Christmas. To anyone who wasn't there: Did I mention I'm going to the Olympics?
The results I managed to get were:
1. Brad Bickley - 16.05
2. Jeremy Deere - 16.06
3. Captain Morgan
4. Spencer
5. Travis Cummings
6. Ryan Twa
7. Scott Jensen
8. Jody Draude - 16.32
9. Frank Woolstencroft - 16.58*
10. Darcy Bell - 17.26
11. Felix - 17.41**
12. Jason Reed - 17.55
13. Bob Banks - 18:00
14. Kevin Lindland - 18:03
15. Adam Kahtava - 18:19
16. Ed Bickley - 18:54.
*Having done a half Ironman on Sunday (see that, Haddow?!)
**All the way from Ontario having done a hills session just before the race.
Olympics? You should have said something. That's exciting.
ReplyDeleteI was 16:28.