A crisp and sunny Sunday morning saw over 120 runners toe the line for the SLH Gordon Pirie daunting distance 10m cross country.
Jonny Muir won the HHH 10M XC title, which was up for grabs, and coupled with a pair of Robins (Jones and Sanderson) and another Jon (Ratcliffe) to boot, yet again gleaned the mens’ team prize in this event. The frost on Farthing Down had hardly melted as the incline to the tea rooms and sharp pace stretched the runners from the start. Even our Jonny Muir wasn’t packing with the four frontrunners, who were eventually to lead all the way to the finish and Jonny to finish an overall fifth and comendably under the hour.
The winning team were closely tracked by HHH’s Gary Ironmoger and Eric Dole whilst, 2 minutes behind, the club mince pie cookery race saw Ben Halifax pipped to the post by Rupert Mainwaring. (Perhaps Ben had done too much tasting the night before).
This superbly scenic course was initially firm under foot with most runners in trail shoes. The second lap developed mud from the melted frost whilst the the ground in the shadows and woods remained rock solid makig the 2 lap course, with over 290 metres of ascent even more taxing. A great lower key endurance event for anyone who wants to try their luck for the Southern Regional Championships.
Waldy Pauzers, Phil Henwood and a highly resolute and durable Jilly Dolphin commendably closed the HHH representation in fine fettle, with enough energy to enjoy the free tea and cakes which were scoffed at the SLH clubhouse. The bar wasn’t too bad either. Many thanks to SLH for yet another highly organised race and exemplary hospitality.
Waldy Pauzers.