After the last few weeks of helping Sam with some of the organising, not to mention the the full day sorting through the 230 entries which were received it was time to get the show on the road. Sam and his wife Louise and possibly little baby George! had thought of a wonderful idea of getting some Musette bags made up for the riders which included a bottle of water, a bike bottle and a banana to be given out upon signing on.
I turned up at the HQ just before 9 to help with the setting up and found myself sorting out the musette bags with the bananas while passing out numbers to the early enthusiastic riders. Not long after I was transported to my position for the day....the finish line. My responsibility for the day was to call the riders numbers as they passed the finish line and then to write the times down from the time keepers to pass them on to the drivers for the day who would get them to he HQ for display.
Stood on top of Long Hill at 11am there was a bit of rain in the air and the weather wasn't looking promising but within half an hour the it had brightened up and I was getting over enthusiastic and starting to predict the winning time to be a new course record even with the headwind.
Most of the time I was stood there trying to be objective and impartial but once Buxton CC riders came up (the first rider) I was doing a bit of cheering. My day was mainly uneventful shouting numbers and watching the pain faces on riders, that was mildly entertaining.
We couldn't predict the winner until Matt Clinton stormed past the finish line, but something deep down that my pre-race favourite hadn't done enough, but Gunnar Gronlund had claimed his first British National title, albeit being from Sweden (qualified on being resident in the UK for the last 2 years).
Back at the HQ there was a buzz about the place with riders saying what a great event it was topped off by that David Harmon providing commentary half way up the climb, wish I could have heard it.
After the riders had gone it was time for the big tidy up, putting numbers away collecting lost/left property, and generally tidying up. I finally left the HQ at 4:30, a long day in anyones book and all done on 3 weetabix. A quick dash home and then it was off out for a well deserved curry with Nicola, her parents and Nick and Hilary Sharpe, a very amusing evening especially when Nick got hooked on Angry Birds.
Looking back I wished I had entered but my form and fitness was against me and felt it better not to enter and potentially take the place of a rider who was more deserving.
Full credit should go to Sam who had been building up to this for the last 2 years, he did a fantastic job especially after the birth of his first child, George, 7 weeks ago an welcome distraction.
