The conditions were getting hotter throughout the day, and I had already
heard about runners struggling on earlier legs. My leg was listed as 10.5
miles (the route having been changed a few years ago), so I decided to run
at a sensible pace early on.
I began in second place, not far ahead of Bromsgrove & Redditch. Their runner started fast, and was only 100 metres behind at three miles. Somehow, I held this gap until halfway, then began to move away over the second half of the course. The steady early pasce was crucial, with many water stations and support from the rest of the team. A nasty hill at about nine miles was a real struggle, but I survived to finish the leg in reasonable shape.
We were still in second place and chasing Kenilworth.
Mark Baker.