Another medal is safely in the bag, (well, hanging on the wall rather proudly actually). The Great North 10k was really great, one of my favourites so far I think. he weather was pretty decent – cool, and slightly damp. I was still hot in the armour, but not quite as insanely hot as usual.

I arrived in Gateshead at 7am to find it was pouring with rain, absolutely torrential, with an inch of water on the roads around the starting area. I did wonder whether the event was going to have to be renamed The Great North 10k Swim. Fortunately by the time the race was getting started the rain eased off and the drains started to catch up on their work.

One of the problems with the helmet I wear is that I cannot see the ground in front of me at all. There’s an area about 6-8 feet in front of me which is completely invisible to me when running, so I have to look ahead at the ground and plan ahead. Unfortunately when it came to puddles I couldn’t always miss these, and so stomped my way right through the middle of some of them. My apologies to those runners close by who got soaked.

One of the toughest aspects of The Great North 10k was the fact that there were several hills, a couple of them were incredibly steep. I’m sure at one point I passed a mountain goat that had given up. The worst of these was right in the final kilometre, just to help break anyone who was struggling.

However, the best part of the race was definitely the end, and not just because it was the end either. The race organisers have planned it so that the final part of the route brings you right into the Gateshead International Stadium, where you get to run almost a complete circuit of the track, watched by all of the spectators in the stands. With ‘Chariots of Fire’ playing, and much applause and cheering it was a great way to finish, and I managed to ‘sprint’ (as far as it is possible to sprint in stormtrooper armour) the last hundred yards.

As ever, photographs below, and this time there’s a short video of me crossing the finish line too (beneath the photos below).

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