Another free t-shirt

IAU World Trail Challenge, Serre Chevalier

Does anyone else get fed up with free race t-shirts? I've lost track of the colossal quantity of unneeded and unworn kit I've gained this year. The 'May Hill Massacre' t-shirt was the first if I remember rightly, with a tasteful dripping chainsaw logo. Draycott Water 35 and a local 10k soon followed with some fairly naff shirts covered with sponsors logos.

My Wye Ultra finisher's shirt is at least a reasonable training top; the Galway 100K t-shirt is moderately wearable. But then for Galway, I was also given a Scottish vest, tracksuit, shorts and a Scottish Athletics t-shirt. It was the end of March, and my wardrobe was already close to exploding.

Joining the Vasque team, I was given three more tops to wear for races – a vest, t-shirt and a long-sleeved top so to have something for any weather. And a fleece to wear afterwards. Oh, and a whole load of socks, and a few pairs of Vasque shoes. And then a month or two later, along came another two t-shirts, and a couple more vests... plus a windproof top, another fleece... and a few more pairs of socks.

Hurrah for the Highland Fling, which gave us bottle of champagne for finishing. Full marks too to the Fellsman (nothing but a cup of tea), Marlborough Downs (a nice hand-made mug) and the Girton 5K (banana). The Picnic marathon a few weeks ago however compensated for these far more sensible races, netting me a naff sunhat and a canary yellow training top (not to mention some non-wearable rubbish). Though, to be fair, it did have a fine picnic afterwards too. But why can't race organisers just charge a smaller entry fee and make the t-shirts and tat an optional extra?

But running for your country really takes the biscuit. A fortnight before the IAU World Trail Challenge in the Alps last week, UK Athletics sent me a kit form. Foolishly, I ticked the boxes for everything I was entitled to, and two days before the race, an enormous package arrived. For running one little race for them, I got a vest; a short-sleeved running top and a long-sleeved running top; a cotton t-shirt; a long sleeved cotton shirt; a polo shirt; two fleeces – white and blue; a jacket; a couple of pairs of shorts; two pairs of leggings (long and short), a couple of sets of tracksuit bottoms and five pairs of socks.

It's all nice enough stuff, and the shorts, vest and socks I wore for the race were very comfortable. But the rest is really terribly wasteful: I'm never going to wear most of it.

I suppose it is quite an honour to be swaddled so comprehensively in the colours of the union flag, so I shouldn't grumble. My only worry now was running well enough in the race to justify my selection - I knew that while in Lizzy Hawker and Angela Mudge we had an exceptionally strong womens team, us blokes were considerably less strong. Neither of us had run internationally before, and in the selection race Allen Smalls had come third, and I had trailed along gently in fourth. I was well aware that if Jez Bragg hadn't decided to run Western States instead, I would never have been asked – and that there are a fair number of runners in the country faster than me who hadn't for various reasons gone for selection.

I thought I should at least enjoy the experience of running at an international level now I had been given the honour though, and Serre Chevalier was a fantastic race setting. Lots of memories will stay with me - the start with a thousand runners jostling in the darkness along the narrow track out of town; the switchbacks up the Col du Galibier, and the steep rocky ascent to the pass; labouring across the high screes and patches of snow in the thinner air of nearly 3000m altitude; the fast loose descents off the cols; the awesome views to the mountains; the smells of forest and meadow as we climbed out of the valleys.

Having gone off from the beginning fairly hard, I managed to stay ahead of the girls – though not by much. They were certainly the stars of the British squad, with Angela taking the ladies silver, and Lizzy – despite not being on her best form – the bronze. Given the standard of the opposition I was pleased with my 14th place in the overall race (7th in the IAU competition), and Allen came around halfway through the International field too despite the terrain not really suiting him.

As I crossed the line, sweaty and tired from 42 miles of running and 3500m of climbing, a French girl smiled sweetly and handed me a finisher's momento. I glanced down.

Just what I needed. Another t-shirt.