Whilst last week’s heavy rain might have put the kibosh on our own ten-miler this week, but there was still plenty of racing to be had.

At parkrun on Saturday morning the good people of South Woodham Ferrers were treated to a Dyer Sandwich at South Woodham Ferrers parkrun.  Our men’s captain, Rob, completed the wet and muddy course at Marsh Farm Country Park in a time of 20:37, whilst Caroline crossed the line 78 places later as the final finisher in 53:28.  Elsewhere Anny Lyon completer her, ahem, fastest parkrun this year at Harwich in a time of 24:59, and Hélène Tyler jeffed her first parkrun since October at Mersea Island parkrun, which she completed in a time of 38:02.

Take a look at the club’s full parkrun results for this week.

Forgoing their fix of free friendly 5k fun, Meera Rajoo-Oakley and Gerry Gladden headed to the Essex Cross Country Championships in Basildon, which saw runners hurdling straw bales, navigating hairpin bends, and racing through a marquee, as well as tackling the usual helping of hills and mud. Both our runners did a fantastic job in tough, if memorable conditions, with Meera finishing the ladies race in 45:53, and Gerry finishing the men’s race in 64:38.

On Sunday Louise and David Balfour, Mark and Donna Harris, and Martin Cotton yomped for over 26 miles through rural North West Essex and North East Hertfordshire at the LDWA Stansted Stagger, visiting the hamlet of Chatter End, and the villages of Brent Pelham, Clavering, Berden, Quendon, and Ugley Green.

Also covering the marathon distance, Andrea Markwick and Larina Marsh made light of the hills, the floods and the mud to complete the East Hanningfield Trail Marathon. This narrative trail race follows a circular route around the village of Danbury and is 95% off-road on a wide variety of terrain. Despite the tough conditions, Andrea and Larina had a great run, finishing in the fantastic time of 5:54:34 and 5:54:41 respectively.