Sunday 19th January
14 hardcore Blues took on the mighty Benfleet today. Although the weather was feeling kind apparently there was still quite a bit of mud! This course is notorious, which kicks off the race calendar for the year ahead in style and is apparently a great race to complete for anyone training for the Grizzly.
Dave Allen and Paul Brazier
Congratulations to every one of you. Results are as follows:
Dave Allen 2:00:22. Paul Brazier 2:01:58. Amy Young 2:26:13. Kathy Bishop 2:28:40. Piers Marwick 2:36:36. Donna Harris 2:47:58. Andrea Markwick 2:57:39. Larina Marsh 2:57:40. Tim Clifton 2:58:05. Mark Harris 3:00:53. Debbie Smith 3:14:58. Sue Wright 3:25:05. Dave Jones 3:39:50
Folksworth 15
Sunday 19th January
To quote a recent phrase used by our Male Captain. “3 old geezers “completed the Folksworth 15 today and did amazingly well in each of their age categories and finishing 5th male team.
The race takes place about 5 miles south of Peterborough and the route takes in some amazing scenery over two laps of an undulating course all of which is on Country roads. There are 3 (Yes 3!) steep hills on each lap which apparently does not deter runners from taking part in this ever-popular race every Year.
Chris Warren Male 50-54 1:38:54. Charlie Keitch Male 45-49 1:40:20. Jon Mann Male 45-49 1:40:24. Stunning performance for “3 old Geezers”, well done guys.
LDWA Winter Tanners.
Sunday 19th January
Phil and Vicky Presland along with Debs Hollidge completed the LDWA Winter Tanners today. The route takes you around the Surrey Hills and North Downs. This amazing Trio opted to run the 20 Mile route (which was in fact 21.5 miles) and completed it in an incredible time of 4:26 which included stops at various checkpoints and hopefully some snacks too. Well done you 3.
Dark Horse Trail- Galleywood
Wednesday 22 January
(No rest for the wicked!) Phil and Vicky Presland along with Tricia Stacey, Claudia Keitch, Scott Young, Larina Marsh and Piers and Andrea Markwick ran the Dark Horse Trail organised by Essex Trail Events which is a 5.3 mile run in the DARK! This is a self-navigation trail race using a written route description, which is only issued at the start of the race.
Now for the interesting part… despite it being in the dark it starts and finishes at The Horse and Groom Pub and your entrance fee includes a sausage or veggie burger and chips. What a great reason for signing up next year! Well done guys.
XC WIX
Sunday 27th January.
Another stunning performance from the Blue Vests at XC Wix today. A fourth place for the Men’s Team with a score of 397 and WOW a First Place for our Ladies team with an outstanding score of 40. This puts us third overall and sitting in third position in the league after 2 fixtures.
An amazing performance in what looked like one of the hardest and muddiest courses I think I have ever seen judging by Eric’s pictures and apparently according to several Strava posts some of you even considered turning round halfway!
Well done all of you who ran on such an unbelievably difficult terrain and on a cold and windy day too. On the plus side it will have been fantastic training for anyone completing the Grizzly in March!
One picture that stood out from today’s race and captures the real spirit of XC must be the one below of Donna Harris. Look at that smile, she absolutely loves it and the muddier the better, it appears!!
Great Bentley Running Club 