Right, been an annoying half day, my internet went down mid way through the Man Utd game which was gutting, and didn't come up until after the 2nd game 
However....the race went fantastically.
3rd place, for my highest finish in this series ever, and had a sprint finish with the chap who normally wins these, losing out by 1-2 seconds!!
Met up with Dachs before hand, and it struck me he looks the part of a front runner these days, looks pretty darn slick and in shape! I guess the only time we met before was after we'd just done a half marathon so probably not a great comparison...super knackered versus super fresh 
Forgot the GPS watch, so used a stopwatch, and had to do a last minute laces switch after my brittle XC shoes ones snapped! That could have been a disaster. It actually helped in the end, as the other laces I had were way longer, could tie them a lot tighter, and after having a shoe sucked off by the mud last year it was a big fear!
I wondered how it would go with Dachs, I knew he's a bit ahead road racing wise, but I knew I had the experience on this course. I made it 40-60 in his favour. To be honest though, beating my normal Sandhurst rival was my main aim, but he wasn't actually there today!
Therefore, myself Dachs, and a Reading chap (roadrunna if he's reading) shot off, and were leading, before Chris Bradfield from Dachet took it on. Took series legend Graham about 3/4mile to pass us, but for once I didn't apply my "i'll slow down I'm ahead of Graham so must be overcooking it" sensor, and just kept with Dachs and the little group.
A Datchet chap joined us, and we pretty much had a leading 6. ( I did notice a couple of pretty quick chaps not in our group at the start, they were left trailing)
The first half of this race is tricky only for the footing. Lots of dodgy branches under foot, and a very narrow section through a woody section. A few of us took at least one minor slip each!
We were all going well at the front, until an incredibly dodgy section, of very very loose mud, that was so squelchy it was amazing that it didn't take our shoes off.
The crux of this race however, is 3 water jumps (forgot there is a 3rd one!). Last year I bungled these, smashing through the water in one, and losing 10secs having to put a shoe back on at another. All 3 were jumped really well this time, and the difference in not having ice cold feet is huge!
After the 3rd jump, you then see a long long hilly ploughed field hill!! This is where even the front runners wilt a little. However, since 2010, I've found I get an incredible 2nd wind here, and with about a mile to go, seemed to just float from 6th to 3rd in no time.
I spotted Graham ahead, and thought, surely I can't be rude enough to be close to him? But he was slowing, and I was aware I had an angry gang of good runners behind me, so somehow kept up with him, and even gave him a cheeky sprint finish at the end.
3rd place, and gave Graham a hell of a shock, as for probably the first time ever he almost got beaten by a club mate
Winner was about 30secs ahead, a quality runner though 
