I had the dubious pleasure of an early start, but the benefit of knowing my start time. It really was a glorious start to the morning, I was confident I'd got the coolest leg, and it would all be over before the heat built up, as I avoid running in the sun as much as possible.
A small group of people gathered at the American Monument for the seven or eight teams making a start at 7am. It was a quick warm up to find out that all loos in Stratford are still locked at 6:50 am, before gulping down some water reserves. The Northbrook B team were offered a lifeline as they'd missed their 6am start, but they were going to miss the 7am one too.
The quiet start soon became a procession as Leamington, Bromsgrove, and Kenilworth immediately pulled away, leaving Sphinx, Stratford and myself strung out behind. Apart from some glorious scenery and a VERY welcome drink at the top of the relatively small hill at about 7 miles, leg one is just a mind-numbing slog.
With the lack of wind, strong sun and warm air taking their toll, I came in fifth about 10 seconds behind Sphinx, who'd passed me a mile from the end of the leg. My time of 67 minutes and 6 seconds was about 6-7 minutes behind the Bromsgrove runner who was one of the leaders. There was a lot to do....
Many thanks to Chairman Bob for transporting me back to the start, I'm not sure I was up for the long walk back to Stratford.
Pete Austin.