Cyprus International Challenge Race 4 - Paphos 10km Road Race

Early morning start at Paphos harbour

The final race of the Cyprus Challenge started as the previous two days had done with sore legs and a bus ride to the race start. However this was an even earlier start as the Paphos 10km Road Race stated at 8am to get it over with whilst the streets were quiet. The buses dropped the 250 participants off on the town side of the harbour and we walked round the harbour to the sea facing side and the old castle where the race would start. The 400m walk around the harbour already told me all I needed to know about the state of my legs. Wrecked! Still, we were all in the same state and I knew from previous events like this that a good warm-up and a few fast wind sprints can soon lull you into a false sense of readiness. And so it turned out. A few running drills and some 50m accelerations convinced me that maybe my legs were alright for a fastish 10k. As for tactics, I had three options in order of increasing ambition:

1. just trail the second placed M50, Fritz, and make sure not to finish more than 40 seconds behind him. 
2. trail the younger German (M40) who had been one place ahead of me in the previous two races and was now only 10 seconds behind me in the overall competition and was no doubt keen to take my 9th overall position.
3. just flipping go for it and make everyone suffer including myself.

I chose option 3). So once again I lined up beside the squadron of fast RAF guys and joined the rear of their formation for the first few hundred metres around the back of the harbour. By this point I had already realised that my legs were only good for 50m at this pace and so I had eased back a little. The German (see option 2) was 10m in front of me but even after slowing down, I was soon on his shoulder and breezed past at about 500m as we climbed through the main pedestrian street. He said something in German which I did not understand. Already the leading dozen runners were strung out in front of me and there were no packs as such. It was just going to be a painful effort for the remaining 9.5k. Although the course was flat compared to the previous few days, it was not actually flat and seemed always to be climbing along the dual carriageways between roundabouts (not quite Queensway steep, more like Strathaven Road) but it was enough to burn the quads at this 3:45/km pace on already shot legs. At this pace, the km markers seemed further apart than in the half marathon the day before but this was just an indication of the greater suffering today. I was passed by one RAF guy and passed another guy dressed in a black tri-suit (must have been sweating buckets in that). Thankfully, the course became gently downhill at about 8km as we headed back down to the harbour and I could relax a little without slowing down. The 9km mark was right at the start of the pedestrian harbour front area where we sped past cafes and restuarants preparing their "Full English" for the yet to awaken more traditional holidaymakers. That last km felt like a long one and was made even worse by being able to see the finish a long way away on the opposite harbour wall. I heard someone closing and feared the worst but was able to pick it up (or at least not slow down) with about 300m to go and was not caught. A very insignificant ramp up to the finish area did just about buckle my legs but apart from that wobble I was safe in 10th position in a satisfying 37:19 and secure as first M50 and 9th overall (the results web site turns this into a 21-29 year old equivalent time of 32:22, which was a real boost given the state of my legs). The race was won by one of the RAF guys in 32:15. They really were flying. Turns out I took over 2 minutes out of Fritz on this one and about a minute out of the German M40.

1st and 2nd M50's

Post-race complimentary beer in hand, I was soon as right as rain (as long as I didn't have to run) and posing for photographs with Fritz who had searched me out to congratulate me. Although I said "never again" when I did this event 6 years ago, I must be getting either more stupid or tougher in my old age as I could easily imagine doing this fantastically organised event again. There were people taking part from all over Europe from 19 years old to 82 years old, so any trained runner can do it and certainly any Calderglen Harrier. It is just a question of knowing your limits and judging the pace. Maybe I will change my mind when I try to walk tomorrow though!

Full results are here.
Alan