As mention in my previous post it was my first time running the National 6 Stage, I've run the Southern 6 Stage for Guernsey a number of years back but this was my first National. I always used to hear or read about the relays and the general banter amongst the athletes and rival clubs so it nice being part of it this time around.You can never read too much into individual performances at this time of year but I was fairly satisfied with my run (I ran the 8th fastest leg of the day in 17.10) particularly as I had no one to chase. I was on the third stage expecting when our 2nd leg runner (Chris McKay) came in that I would have a few to chase down, however he came in first so I had a solo run ahead of me. It wasn't all straight forward at the change over either! as just before I was about to start my leg there was a bit of problem with m
y number!... it turned out that earlier when we arrived (Newham) had been given a few wrong numbers within the team numbers. Without paying too much attention I just pinned on my front and back numbers only to be made aware on the start line literally 60secs before I was due to go that my back and front number didn't match! Fortunately Dave Mitch (our first leg runner) was passing at the time so between the two of us we used part of his number pinning it over the top of mine to make the numbers match, we literally had the last pin in as Chris came in to the change over area and I was off on the course!
y number!... it turned out that earlier when we arrived (Newham) had been given a few wrong numbers within the team numbers. Without paying too much attention I just pinned on my front and back numbers only to be made aware on the start line literally 60secs before I was due to go that my back and front number didn't match! Fortunately Dave Mitch (our first leg runner) was passing at the time so between the two of us we used part of his number pinning it over the top of mine to make the numbers match, we literally had the last pin in as Chris came in to the change over area and I was off on the course! 
Fortunately it didnt seem to affect my run, although it did get the adrenaline going and I had to make a conscious effort to easy back in the first few minutes so i didn't get too carried away. Generally I felt quite strong during my stage and if anything was a bit too relaxed coming home to hand over to our 4th man. I still managed to increase our narrow lead (from when i took over) to around about 20-30secs by the end. Leeds closed us down on the 4th leg but with Mo Farah and Moumin Geele on our remaining two legs we looked good for victory. Our winning margin was quite big in the end and new course record to boot.
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