Tour Of Telford 2002

Sunday – Heart of the Park 5k By Alan Jenkins Starts near Telford Rugby Club. A suitably downhill - and flat- trip round a big pool (apart from the hills. And the steps).
Id ploughed round the course earlier on my bike to make sure it wasn't blocked by anything more serious than horse poo!	Was worried by the arrival of 2 car loads of very large dogs. Also the inner tube had started to bulge out of the tyre wall on my back wheel. The race was a good un and everyone thought it was tough, Steve Jones was away from the start and by the first steps he was comfortably in the lead, couldnt talk at the finish for a couple of minutes despite my attempts at a post race interview(wow! sub 16!). Graham Machin saw off the challenge of a fired-up Colin Tart but I reckon another mile would have seen the tables turned as he was reeling him in at the end. I was worried that someone might go the wrong way but they all assured me they knew the way phew!!	Gareth&Brenda brought some water - most welcome by all, especially mike white who was last home but pretty pleased with his achievement. Steve Jones ran home to Leegomery, I'm not worthy.

Monday – The Wrekin Steeple

Over 100% increase on Stage 1 entries, together with 2 new entrants toed the line for the toughest Tour Stage, the Wrekin Steeple. This 2.75 mile Cat 'A' fell race, at 407m high, is no place for the faint hearted... A full support crew, water and video camera was set up, the helicopters circled overhead (a co-incidence?).
It was warm, but had cooled down a little from the mid day sun. The black flies were still out in force though, looking for easy pickings. From the start again, Steve Jones was soon away from the main field and by the trig point at the top was about a minute up on John Sanders, who managed to close the gap a little on the stony, dusty descent.
Despite cutting corners (even when told not to!) Graham Machin finished a resoundingly excellent 3rd place, with new Harrier Andrew Davies 4th home. The King of the Mountains title goes to Steve, the rest of us just put up with aching knees and burning lungs.