Dave Evans reports:

Right from the off it was clear that Roy had victory in mind leading the cortège of 8 aspirants by some 35 seconds at the mile point as the weather improved from drizzle to pleasant sunshine. There were no prizes for guessing who would reach the turnaround in first place but places two to four were up for grabs. This latter group raced well and their return journey in all cases was a minute faster than the outgoing “leg”. This course requires real concentration and resilience with almost helter skelter ups and downs.

As the walkers finally cleared the last hill the slick style of the club secretary came into view but hot on his trail was Steven Wilde who had managed to reduce the time deficit to 27 seconds having been 78 seconds in arrear at halfway.

The handicap produced a bit of a surprise as Phil McCullagh took the trophy . I am told by one of his adversaries that he’d been doing extra training but not within earshot of the handicapper. There’s always next time !

Special thanks to Eric Horwill for timekeeping and to Glyn Jones for bringing him to the venue.

Results – Scratch

1. Roy Gunnett [M75] 73 mins 10(11:02/35:49)
2. Steven Wilde [M70] 73 mins 37(11:37/37:07)
3. Phil McCullagh [M65] 74 mins 03(11:55/38:00)
4. Glyn Jones [M80] 74 mins 53(11:54/37:59)
5. Joe Hardy [M80] 77 mins 34(12:06/39:14)
6. Ian Hilditch [M80] 89 mins 16(12:11/40:05)

6.5k Greg Smith [M70] 53 mins 07

Handicap

1. Phil McCullagh 69 mins 03
2. Steven Wilde 73 mins 07
3. Roy Gunnett 73 mins 10
4. Glyn Jones 73 mins 53
5. Joe Hardy 74 mins 19
6. Ian Hilditch 75 mins 31
7. Greg Smith

Age-graded

1. Glyn Jones 81.97%
2. Roy Gunnett 77.32%
3. Joe Hardy 76.54%
4. Steven Wilde 70.79%
5. Ian Hilditch 69.98%
6. Phil McCullagh 67.03%

As ever sincere thanks to Greg Smith for the splendid images