Nopesport

Racing through Jesus College (Photo Courtesy: Ollie O'Brien)

On Saturday around 320 competitors took part in the rescheduled Cambridge City Race, cancelled back in February due to the dangerous underfoot conditions following snowfall. It couldn't have been much better this time round given the time of year, with a clear and chilly morning making for good running conditions.

Competitors faced the challenge of weaving through city shopers and tourists while navigating a mix of narrow cobled streets, alleys and parkland which interspersed visits to various colleges which included Downing, St John's, Pembroke and Jesus. 

Courses were well planned, given the difficulties with late permissions faced by the organisers, with short sharp bursts around clusers of controls in the colleges and parks which were joined up by longer legs. With route selection proving the main challenge rather than the control sites themselves, it meant there wasn't much opportunity to take in the surroundings, as planning ahead on the longer "dead running" legs proved critical while concentrating on implementing routes around the control clusters required 100% focus.

In the women's race it was a close contest between Grace Elson and Sarah Rollins, who matched each other closely on many splits. Sarah's greater consistency throughout, with the fastest time on 18 of the 24 legs, was enough to give her an 18 second margin over Elson, with Anne Edwards a couple of minutes back.

In the Men's race it was Graham Gristwood who had a pretty clean run, opening up a decent lead on the longer legs to win by almost a minute from GB teammate Matt Crane, with Matt Halliday and Ian Nixon sharing joint 3rd spot a further couple of minutes back.

Full results, along with splits, Routegadget etc are available from the CUOC website.

Updated standings of the Nopesport Urban League are also available: Men's Standings | Women's Standings

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