Ten races had preceeded the Senior Men’s race on Saturday afternoon at Sefton Park in Liverpool, so the course had been well and truly churned-up by the time Holland Sports’ Jack Kavanagh and Andy Green toed the line for the start of their race. The start was frantic as the UK’s best runners vied for position over the first lap before the groups settled and the run for the line began over the following two. Hard through the mud and the mire, it wasn’t to be for Jack as he pulled out short of the end. Andy, coming back to fitness after a long lay-off showed real class to finish 56th in a really stacked field and show the progress he has made since joining the squad at Holland Sports. As Andy himself stated in his subsequent Strava post – he only needs 52 people to pull out and he would find himself running in a GB vest.

Well done, Andy and well done, Jack: the hard work is being done. If top-level sport was always easy, there would be no challenge and we wouldn’t be spending our time doing it, watching it or investing our emotions in it.