Report from Lynn Geoghegan :

I was visiting my son and his family in Tidworth for the weekend so decided to enter myself for a race whilst there. Pewsey is not far from Tidworth where my son lives and I found an 11 and half mile off road race and entered, it was not until it got nearer the date that I decided to check this race out. Not only was there water to go through but so many hills that I felt tired just reading about it, then wondered what had I done when I looked at the website for it.
There was nearly 700 starters and we went off on road for about a mile, we then headed off road through undulating fields when I heard someone say 'this is the first of the water', going through mud ankle deep to reach the water I jumped in and waded through and tried to scramble out the other side I ended up in mud above my knees and unable to move but I was grateful to two men who grabbed a hand each and literally dragged me across the mud and left me lying on the grass the other side, I dusted myself off and carried on with my normal plodding pace. On reaching the first water station at 3 mile I had to remove one of my tops as it was very warm. We were told there were water stations at 3, 6 and 9 mile so was a little dissapointed when I reached the 3rd water station and they said I was at 7 miles and I thought I was at 9 miles, when I questioned it they said they had decided to add another one, did I swear, yes I did, but it was under my breath so don't worry I didn't let the Harriers down.
I found it very difficult running in mud for such long periods of time but that felt easy when I climbed the first of 4 very big hills, walking up them was even hard work and the downhill was no compensation as they were so steep but the course was very scenic as most of the time we were at the top of hills. There was parts of the course where it became a little grid locked and walking was the only option as it was a single track and you could not overtake some may of found this a little frustrating but I loved it!! There was another lot of water before the finish where my husband was waiting patiently for me and from the look on my face on the pictures for the race I'm looking up as if to say just say one word! My grandson was near the finish shouting faster nannie, I don't think he's old enough to realise I only have one speed. Please google the terminator and look at the website and that will give more of an insight into the race, I finished in 2.20.34. I enjoyed the race and would do it again, I was just glad to complete it!!

Terrain: very very hilly, multi terrain

Weather conditions: Lovely sunny day


With showers available at the finish, it is only right that runners should not enter the sports centre with muddy feet. Welcome to The Shoewash!
http://www.pewseyvalerunningclub.com

Six of our men made their way down to Parliament Hill Fields for the122nd running of the English National Cross Country Championships and one lady for the 77th Senior Ladies race.
This course is famous for being one of the toughest courses in the Cross Country Calendar and it did not disappoint. The weather was glorious and there were fantastic views out over the city. However by the time the ladies race started, seven other races had churned the mud up and by the time nearly six hundred ladies had run well it was ‘muddy’.
Lydia Atkins was our sole runner in the ladies race and she came home in 417th place in a time of 45:27 which for 8K in those conditions was very good. The race was won by Hatti Dean in a remarkable 29:34 and that was just 12 seconds in front of Sara Tunstall. A point of note was Gemma Miles (Phillips) who holds the course record for our own Staffs Knot could only manage 12th place in 31:05.
Then came the men’s race. George Mafu in relaxed mode appeared to be asleep in the sunshine as others got ready for the off. It was quite a sight to see almost 1500 runners set off in a line across the muddy fields and climb the first hill. Ahead was a very tough 12K which mostly appeared to be uphill. Our runners said there must have been some downhills but all they could remember was uphill and mud.
The race at the front end was very tight with Frank Tickner and Steve Vernon exchanging the lead but Tickner was the eventual winner in 38:02 eight seconds ahead of Vernon.
For our own team it was Tom Hobbins who lead them home from our new boy George Mafu. This was only George’s third race and he has promised now to start training.
Here are the positions and times from our lads. The Harriers were first Staffordshire team on the day.

617	Tom Hobbins	51:26
897	George Mafu	55:47
944	Keith Skelton	56:39
1283	Steve Turner	63:35
1310	Ed Smith	64:21
1417	Roy Clay	71:31

Full results Mens Race Ladies race
Team Placings Men’s Teams Ladies Teams

It seems it was all a bit to much for Ed on the train home. Thanks to Steve Turner for the photos.

There were thirteen Harriers that made it down to Stourbridge for the annual Stagger. Conditions were not to bad considering the weather that had been experienced during the week. First Harrier home was Keith Skelton in 36th spot in 1:15:58 followed closely by Chris Ross who was involved in a deadheat one place behind in 1:16:49. He must have missed out on the dip as he was given 38th place. Chris Skellern was our first lady home in 1:25:12.
398 finished the race.
For full results and photos have a look on Dudley Kingswinford website, it can be found on the links page.
Here is a full list of the times for the Harriers.

36	Keith Skelton	1:15:58
38	Chris Ross	1:16:49
112	Chris Skellern	1:25:30
140	Steve Turner	1:29:02
158	Darren Bathew	1:30:38
175	Vicky Lowndes	1:32:07
178	Bernard Wilkes	1:32:28
272	Lew Badger	1:41:44
298	Jill Ross	1:43:56
326	Sally Burns	1:48:17
327	Andy Bourne	1:48:29
373	Mike Moore	1:57:13
397	Frank Grant	2:16:59

Report from Sally Burns as follows

Report: On a very fresh Sunday morning what else would you rather be doing?
The course was a mixture of ice, snow and lots of mud, but the beautiful
scenary made up for the big hill (that everyone forgot to tell me about).
Although it was a cold morning the sun starting shining on our backs as
the race went on.
The Stagger was a very enjoyable 10ish mile race and well worth considering
next year. A good turn out for the Harriers - well done to all who participated.

Terrain: e.g. Road, Track, Trail, Country, Multi-terrain, Hilly, Undulating, Flat as a pancake Mulit-terrain, nice long stretches with a few stiles to get your legs going.

Weather conditions: Cold and icy with a warming sun as the race went on.

Sally Burns

An unofficial run as I couldn’t get entered due to the entries closing very early. So you’ll have to take my word for it as I won’t be in the results listing. The limit for the marathon was 8,000 and the race started at 08.00 (half marathon started at 07:10 with 15,000 runners).
The race start was in Nathan Road, one of the main shopping streets in Kowloon, and very soon left the city onto dual carriageway roads to run out nearly to the airport. Then a U turn to start the return journey.
From the start area there was no public support until the last 3km of the race, which ended in Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island. But the support on that last stretch was really noisy & enthusiastic. The route mostly climbed to the halfway point, though mainly long slow climbs and only by 240feet.
At 35km we entered the tunnel to go for 2km under the water from Kowloon to HK Island and boy the climb out was really steep (120ft in a 1/2 km). This was followed by a long downhill stretch and flat road before a final steep but short climb over a road bridge at 41km (just where you really don’t want it). Temperatures about 24C+ and a little humid, though not too bad, with a gentle cooling breeze for the last 8km. I finished very tired in 3:23:45 – I need to start training.

Pete Sarson (after a post-race bath and sleep).

On a very cold morning 1056 runners finished the Alsager 5. It’s the 5 miler you either love or hate. It was great to see Mike St.Dunn back running again and making Paul Douglas work hard. Paul managed to get 3rd V55 and Gill Caldwell 1st L70. There were also a lot of first time runs for Harriers and it was good to see 34 Harriers in the first race of the Harriers Challange.

Paul Douglas enjoying the run as much as Jayne Dickens from Trentham.

Liz Stanyer is enjoying it just as much.

1124 says “Come on Kim that’s your dad’s vest with pins in isn’t it?”


Here’s how the Harriers finished.

146th	Mike St Dunn	30:35
149th	Paul Douglas	30:38	3rdV55
245th	Nina Skilton	33:17
269th	Pete Sarson	33:48
271st	Mark Bentley	33:50
281st	Steve Turner	34:12
282nd	Mike Harris	34:12
300th	Dave Preece	34:27
318th	Dave Marsden	34:52
334th	Ed Smith	35:09
368th	Rob Simpson	35:45
380th	Chris Skellern	35:56
508th	Eric Lander	38:15
528th	Darren Bathew	38:40
554th	Craig Baxter	39:11
568th	Karen Davies	39:25
645th	Liz Stanyer	40:36
670th	Natalie Mountford	41:18
688th	Lew Badger	41:48
705th	Lynn Geoghegan	42:08
712th	Andy Bourne	42:15
713rd	Jill Ross	42:16
816th	Bill Whitworth	45:23
822nd	Rebecca Bostock	45:34
873rd	Frank Grant	47:12
875th	Dave Trevor	47:14
895th	Karen Murray	48:02
940th	Chris Howe	49:38
970th	John Hately	51:18
977th	Gill Caldwell	51:35	1st L70
979th	Nicky Walker	51:40
988th	Sara Broome	52:03
1017th	Kim Preece	54:43
1032nd	Maureen Howe	55:45