Wrekin Fell Race

Today was a race that I've had scheduled in my diary for some time - Wrekin Fell Race which is a 5.5 mile race up to the summit of The Wrekin and two smaller ascents of Ercall giving a total ascent of over 500 metres. The race doubled up as the county trials for Warwickshire (my county) as well as Shropshire and Worcestershire. I didn't necessarily expect to qualify for the inter counties but I thought I'd have a go and see what happens. When the race started I went off at a reasonable pace and once out of the school grounds it was immediately uphill on a local road and I tried to keep off the gas. At this point I was around 10th and soon afterwards we went off road to make the first ascent of Ercall at which point I was now 4th (behind someone in a batman costume). The first ascent was runnable and about 2/3rds of the way to the summit I moved into 3rd. I was certainly starting to blow a bit and I suspected that I had gone off a little too hard. Th...