Apologies for the late appearance of this report. Some action photos now added – thanks to Chris Pearce and Greg Smith

Dave Evans reports:

The rescheduled Fred Pearce relay took place against a background of yellow weather warnings across most of the UK and most attendees faced fairly hazardous conditions travelling to and from the venue. With quite a number of club members unable to attend it was decided to reprogramme the relay into a straight 5k race designing teams of 3 with an appropriate time handicap in their respective lockers. No competitors knew who was in their team until the post race buffet and the presentation.

Martin Payne led the field out to the turnaround and came into the finish a comfortable 83 seconds ahead of Roy Gunnett. I understand Martin and Pat Evans both suffered a drenching from a passing motorist on route but were probably already pretty wet by then. It was very pleasing to welcome Dan Maskell for the first time for quite a few years, still displaying a fine walking style. He was pleasantly surprised with his time.

Many thanks to Sailash for manning the halfway point and Irene Pike for helping with the recording . Chris Harvey, our club president , joined many of the walkers in the last quarter mile or so to encourage them in. Nice gesture.

Chris Pearce presented walkers and helpers with a sumptuous buffet and 3 excellent prizes.

Results
1. Roy Gunnett 34:25, Joe Hardy 36:19, Pat Evans 37:48.   108 mins 32
2. Martin Payne 33:48, Dan Maskell 37:17, Ian Hilditch 41:36.  108:41(after 4:00 min h/cap)
3. Greg Smith 35:56, Andrea Lennon 46:14. Plus credit handicap adjustment of 27:30 109 mins 40.

Because our next race was to be at Macclesfield on 4th October and has had to be cancelled because of a family funeral involving our host, the next event will be the club AGM at Simister on 1st November 2025. Club members are reminded to put forward their nominations for long distance performer of the year and best performance at any distance.