The verdict

Very very good. I've just got home after an amazing run in the new shoes. They just performed!! So did my legs. :-) I wish I could run that well all the time... (perhaps I will)

9.5 kms.

Couple of funny incidents: I found that I was actually running faster than Eric over the first half-dozen controls before we chose different routes. I would slow to read the map, and he would pull away, and then I'd catch him up. That's never happened before.

Toward the end of the course a few of us got caught at a railway crossing waiting for the train to pass through. When we all started running again, I was at the front. I kept waiting for everyone to burn past me (all blokes, usually much quicker), and I stayed at the front for 600m UPHILL until our course diverged. Cool huh?!