I finished 21st in the race and 4th in the M45 age group at Swansea, Dan M. won the M45 race and Tim Hartley won the race. Sian is injured, Debbie Walters convincingly won the women's race.

If I didn't have enough problems in the run up to the race, the course in Swansea was very wet and slippery. The 8K was four laps, and most of each lap was either undulating, if not hilly, or muddy. It reminded me of Banbury, it was going to be difficult for me before the race even started. I slipped and slid my way round was fifth M45 for most of the race, eventually I got going a little bit better, at one point passing John Convery and getting into third place in the M45 race - but there were too many slippery bits, and I ended up 4th.

Meanwhile Dan and Keith were winning the battle against the mud, Dan had an excellent last lap and finished just behind Julian E, and over 20s ahead of the rest of the M45s. Julian had a good race and finished sixth, but Tim Hartley is still a class athlete, and with Robert Quinn second and Justin Chaston third there was no question about the quality.

It was an interesting weekend, Eddie Simpson and Mark Aspinall were running, I wonder whether I ever ran against them in a Mid Lancs league race, in truth I only ran a few of them, but the courses remain ingrained in my memory. It was good to chat with the Nealons about warmer times in Llubjana, and think about going to Finland next year - if it's not too expensive.

...and this is one of those annual sporting events that England (with a much bigger population than the other countries) win practically every year - but next year the England home venue is the isle of Man, not the easiest of places to get to, who knows how things will work out.