Today, a Barlick vest was on display in Southern France when, for the second year running, Sam Wadsworth entered the local race. The winning time was 48:13. Sam had a top ten finish, with a time of 51:44. Here is his report of the day:
For the second year running I was in the Cevennes, France at the picturesque village of Florac, for the annual Tour Du Dolmen, a 12km road race. I was feeling a bit better prepared, having not got smashed the night before, instead this year, I'd opted for 24 hours driving in the car, just to get me loosened up.
The race consists of a small lap around the hillside village, taking you back through the start on the main square after 3 km, making it good for spectators. I'd set off a bit slower this year and was in around 15th position after the first lap, a flat section along the riverside, before you begin a 5km climb to the summit. I made up 3 places early on into the climb, but didn't reach the next runners until we approached the summit. The last 3km is a sprint down the road where I made up one place and caught up to another, but was left for dust on the run in, finishing 9th overall in a time of 51:44
The race is obviously a big event for the village and one of the organisers spends the next hour on his microphone interviewing the leading runners about their race. Having carefully planned my prize acceptance speech and imagined what questions he could possibly be asking all these runners (my race tactics...running as fast as I could.), I very descretely sloped back into the crowd with my local produce goodies (before I had to embarass myself trying to construct a clear sentence in French). The interviewer persisted even after another organiser told him I was English and came to find me to see where I was from...I felt pretty sure my GSCE French should cover this so in my best french accent I took to the mic and said....'Yorkshire'.