www.DatchetDashers.com

After the cancellation of the Cliveden XC at Christmas, Burnham Joggers arranged an alternative race at Black Park:

A small select band of Dashers attended this round of the cross country league, with the ladies outdoing the men for only the second time this season, finishing 5th to the men’s 7th. Overall the team finished 7th to retain our 5th place in the league, but we are now only 4 points ahead of Sheen Shufflers and 6 ahead of Burnham Joggers, so we still need you to turn out for the two remaining rounds.

Paul Woolley ran this tough 12k off-road race, and finished in an excellent 19th position in a time of 52:30

A small turnout of Dashers at the Reading Road Runners cross country at Bearwood College, but a good performance by those who attended gave the team 5th place on the day, a result that leaves us 5th in the league at the halfway point. It was nice to see Chris Bradfield back on the country again after so long out with injury, with a very commendable 40th place on the back of practically no running for 2 years.

While most of us recovered from the New Year festivities, Tom and Lucy had the small bump that is Box Hill to run up and down! At around 10k in length and with about 475m of ascent, the race does exactly what it says on the tin.

Tom reports

Although the Knackercracker has the self acclaimed title of the ‘Toughest 10K in Britain’ it is also voted as the best; and in our eyes it certainly earned both reputations. Very steep hills, nice views, good marshalling, much camaraderie and a great goodie bag made this a great way to start 2011. Most of the entrants run in fancy dress with two ‘naked men’, a couple of Grim Reapers, several Morph’s and The Spice Girls running.

Lucy ran very well coming in as third lady and winning a prize with a time of 59 mins or so, and I finished (which is good enough for me).  We will definitely be running next year but in the spirit of the race will be in fancy dress

Photos are here if you want to see some very strangely-dressed people!

Another excellent result, with the men finishing third overall and the team as a whole in 5th.

Congratulations to Steve and Mike for excellent podium places, and to Rosie Delaney who finished as 3rd Vet Lady and winning her first ever prize. Has she stopped smiling yet I wonder?

Jo Griffiths finished the first race of the Woodland 5 series in an excellent 38:38, giving her 34th place and 2nd in the senior ladies  category.

Provisional results…  the ladies were 7th, the men 8th, and overall we were 8th.

Full results here

Well done to all those who ran this tough course, next up is Reading in the new year.

Tom Durance reports…

Myself and Elaine were in Chesham for a 10k XC 3 weeks ago and decided to sign up to another race in the same town – The Pednor International 10 mile race.  With ‘International’ being in the title and a very professional pre race programme, we expected a large field with some serious athletes from overseas.  As it turned out there were no more than 150 entrants and the post race goody bag was presented before(!) the race containing a can of pop and a cake voucher!?!  However, we’re not knocking it as it was a friendly, intimate, scenic race of 2 laps.  With the previous 48 hours’ rain and 2 major hills it seemed more like a tough cross country!  For me it was a test of the ankles.  I was happy with a painless 7 miles and a final time of 1.16.10.  For Elaine, it was the distraction of the many horses that enjoyed charging round the field when we ran past, that made her exactly a minute behind me.  10

The terrible overnight weather gave way to a stunning autumn morning, and with a course to match, the consensus was that this was one of the best, most enjoyable runs that anyone had done!

8 miles of up-and-down cross-country running, the infamous “Bog of Doom” (a 4ft-something deep, very smelly bog, lined with spectators), yet more hills, a couple more bogs, and then a few more steep hills, this time on sand. What more could one want from a Sunday morning?

Some photos will be available shortly.