The 16 kilometre course was four laps from in front of the Polo Ground in Miramar. It went up Darlington Road and came back down Miramar North Road to join Park Road, with Rotherham Terrace to complete the circuit. The weather on the day was about as nasty as you could get. There was a howling, freezing southerly blowing and the best way to warm up was to stay in the car.
After his exploits at the National Cross Country it was expected that my brother, Alan, would get a medal on the road but he failed to place. Mum had come along to spectate (sensibly staying in the car) and remarked after his race that we might as well go home since we weren't likely to pick up any loot on that day. I tended to agree with her.
I did my warm up by taking my clothes off in the car and running to the start line.
With a good tail wind from the start I found things reasonably easy and the hills round the back of the course suited me better than a lot of people. This meant that by the end of the first lap I found myself up with the leading bunch. At this stage Roger Robinson took off with the wind behind him and left a bunch of around ten people including Kerry Cunningham, Derek Froude, Graham Macky, Dave Hatfield, Alan Dowland, Paul Moreton and me, to fight it out for the minor places.
I was in a position I never expected to be and, although I was feeling quite good and led the bunch at times, I didn't push it. Slowly the bunch dwindled until by the beginning of the last lap there was only Kerry Cunningham, Derek Froude and me left. Derek and I dropped Kerry over the hills at the back of the course as Derek picked up the pace to try and drop me as well. I wouldn't let him go, getting some shelter into the headwind. Once we had turned the final corner I sprinted past Derek to take second place only one second in front.
So at the end of the day we did have some spoils to take home (but it did mean hanging around in the cold a bit longer for the prizegiving).
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