The Barnard Trophy took place in the picturesque village of Sutton, a suburb of Macclesfield.
The course for this 10k event comprises 3 ‘out and back’ laps. After the recent hot weather conditions for the race were relatively good – 19C, fairly breezy and an overcast sky. The rain held off for the race apart from a little drizzle in the last few minutes.

For a variety of reasons, the numbers taking part in the race were low…..6 walkers lined up for the start.
From the gun Roy Gunnett took the lead, followed by Sailash Shah and Greg Smith.
At the end of the first lap Roy clocked 24mins 24secs and he was 14 secs up on Sailash (24 mins 38secs) who in turn was 13 secs up on Greg (24mins 51secs).
On the second lap Sailash steadily pulled back his deficit on Roy and by the end of the lap took a one second lead over him. Sailash 49mins 10 secs and Roy 49mins 11secs.
At this point, namely 6.66k, Greg retired.

Over the final lap Roy retook the lead over Sailash and won the Scratch race.

Sailash Shah had an excellent race considering his recent injuries and the lack of training this has resulted in. He easily won the handicap by a large margin and was awarded the Barnard Trophy.

A vote of thanks must go to Glyn Jones who marshalled the turnaround point and Chris Harvey who did the timekeeping. As ever Marshall Barnard and his wife Kath put on a magnificent spread afterwards of tea, sandwiches, cakes etc. Plus, they awarded prizes to the first 3 handicap winners.

Results
Scratch Race.

10k
1 Roy Gunnett 74 mins 11secs (24:24,49:11)
2 Sailash Shah. 74 mins 18secs (24:38,49:10)
3 Steven Wilde. 78 mins 29secs (25:44,51:44)
4 Joe Hardy. 79 mins 48secs (26:48,53:53)
5 Phil McCullagh 81mins 12secs (27:42,54:32)

6.66k
Greg Smith. 51mins 59secs (24:59)

Handicap

1 Sailash Shah 62:33
2 Roy Gunnett. 68:11
3 Joe Hardy. 68:18
4 Steve Wilde. 68:59
5 Phil McCullagh 69:12

Age-Related

1. Roy Gunnett 77.53%
2. Joe Hardy 76.92%
3. Steven Wilde 67.28%
4. Sailash Shah 62.61%
5. Phil McCullagh 61.86%

Thanks as ever to Greg Smith for the photos.