I ran the course as a warm-up (5.1 kms). I watched the start of the half marathon at 11am and then we lined up about 5 minutes later and we were off. I took it out fairly hard and by the time I made the first turn at the bottom of the village I had already opened up a lead. The first 2.6kms of this race are on the road (with nice stretches of downhill), then you hit the forest trail which has lots of twists and turns coupled with some nasty drags. Through the first km in 3:10, and then I pushed on and by the time I reached the second km with a 3:08 I was well clear.
The next km and after 600m you switch to the trail. I was still going nicely and with a 3:13 3rd km (9:31) I had visions of breaking 16 minutes. That thought was short-lived and I lost some momentum in the 4th km and with a 3:22 split I was pushing custard uphill with a fork. I cruised the last km and crossed the line in 16:13 for the win.
I'm happy enough with the time (my quickest on this course was a 16:06 in a closely fought race 2 years ago). This time ranks as my second best and it felt pretty comfortable - despite the very hot conditions.
Another lap of the course as a warm-down with the top off. A total of 15.8kms for the day.
A great day which I really enjoyed. One of my favourite races on the calendar and great to see this race grow in its 4th year. Superb organisation, a beautiful location and probably the warmest weather I have raced in since moving to Ireland. And here was me thinking that Australia was the lucky country...
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