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Well done to Martin Kelsey who ran in the New Forest Marathon yesterday, finishing in 122nd place in 3:43:06.

It may still be summery but we’re counting down to the cross country league already.

Dates (so that you can keep space in your diaries – you know you want to!) and the rules etc are on the cross country league page. Our wonderful fixtures secretary will send out times and locations nearer the time

Congratulations to everyone who ran on a very hot day; times were significantly slower than normal – even the front runners were 2 minutes down on their usual times.

Team results will be posted as soon as they are available!

Hot on the heels of the last update, two new records at the weekend - another MV70 record for Rachhpal as he gets closer to the 30 minute barrier, and Andy Cooney took 37 seconds off his own MV40 Half Marathon time.

Pretty good conditions at the GNR resulted in some scorching times at the front of the race, and this was reflected further down the field.

Andy Cooney was the star of the show for the Dashers, finishing in an excellent 55th overall, and 4th in his age group – and a scant 12s outside his pb!

Further back, there was good, consistently-paced running from Graeme, Tom and Nikki, and Bella. Everyone finished in the top 40% of the field, testament to some very hard training!

A practically perfect morning for running, so a new course pb for the indefatigable Rachhpal…

Rachpal Bath made his fourth record-breaking run last week, knocking another 27 seconds off his own 5k record at the Black Park timetrial. Well done!

A good weekly attendance at Black Park from the Dashers, with Paul improving his best by 18s, and Rachhpal taking off an impressive 42s!

Belated birthday congratulations to Elaine, who recently celebrated her 30th birthday with an afternoon game of rounders, and later in fine style at a choice selection of pubs. A good time was had by all… as the following photos clearly demonstrate!

Elaine’s 30th birthday

Everyone was quite sore the next day, and many experienced dehydration and headaches. My advice is to give up rounders…

You know how you feel at the end of a half-marathon? Well just imagine swimming 1900m, then cycling 53 miles, and only then starting your run. Oh, and doing it all as fast as you can, on a hilly course. Just describing it makes me need a lie-down!

Holly Seear, Neil Potter and Ralph Moore braved the elements and the scary scale of the event to all record excellent finishes. Sadly Jon Elliott came down sick in days before the race, and was forced to pull out.