I don't know who in the Olympic Harrier club had the idea of running a race over 20 miles of cross country and road but they must've had that mindset typical of many a runner I know (and that would probably include myself) in that if you make it hard enough you'll start a legend.
The race started on Trentham Racecourse, wound over some paddocks out the back and returned via Miro Street. There were two railway crossings involved which tended to result in interesting tactics in some parts of the field.
Now I'm not a marathon runner and 20 miles is getting pretty close, although they do say the marathon doesn't start until that point, so I approached the race as more of a training run. Even so, as you can see from the newspaper clipping, I was right up with the lead. It wasn't long after this that I decided that if I was going to finish the race I would have to slow down, so I did. I stopped for a drink at the half way mark and then again at three quarters but still managed to finish tenth in 1:57:47. Derek ran 1:51:25 to win it.
Since then I have run a couple of three quarter marathon time trials and six times around Rarotonga, but the 20 mile Gold Cup would be the longest race I have run.
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