I was hoping for a good time at Weston, nobody else was interested as I headed into the lead from the off - so not surprisingly I won comfortably. Sian was the first women home in 29.46, although Ann Singer was only 11 seconds behind. I finished provisionally in 25.25, and if that's correct I'll be happy, as I managed to add a pirouette circle when I turned too early to come back up the Prom. From the start I was pretty much in the lead on my own, a little way back Russ and Billy Sheppard from Clevedon were just ahead of Mark Cooper - all of whom are reasonably experienced runners and not prone to sprint starts. Unfortunately I hadn't quite grasped where the turnaround point was, and turned to early - the chasing group shouted out so I circled round and on down the prom. I had been trying to get down to a previous race to suss out the course - even when you know where that course turns, it's not the same as running it to have a feel of how fast and long each 1.25 mile stretch is. I reached half way point in 12.56, which means I ran the second half in 12.29, just inside 25 min pace (this does rely on 25.25 being the correct finishing time). I'm quite happy with that, there was a little bit of tiredness in my legs from the Gwent, and I hadn't had much opportunity of easy recovery running as I was working in Scotland. The pirouette probably cost me 5-10 secs, and I was a little hesitant after that for a while. All in all, I think 25 mins would be possible - given the right weather. 25.04 is currently listed as the fastest M40 time this year - and Gordon's about four years younger than me. Sian was pleased to be under 30 mins, it's unusal for two women to be under 30 mins on that course, although apparently it's unusual for the wind not to blow. Sian won easily enough, but there's no doubt she benefitted from the competition to keep her going. ...and although course records can be shrouded in mystery (before the days of results on the www), it's Larry Matthews who holds the course record. Martin Palmer was recalling his memories of windy nights on the Prom - sprinting in one direction and crawling in the other. Fast times do need luck with the weather coming off the English Channel, but I'm sure Martin will have run some of the fastest times on that course however windy it was.