It was lovely to see everyone at Bourne Woods today and to finally have a cross country fixture in 2026 that didn’t get rained off! That said, I hope nobody else needed their car to have a push to get through the car parking field … (maybe a new Team HRR sport – a spot of running and a vehicle push – who needs Hyrox!)

I reckon Bourne Woods is pretty high up on everyone’s list of favourite races; it’s super pretty, quite runnable for the most part, just a few cheeky hills and tree roots to navigate.

Many thanks to Charlie Wallace for putting up the gazebo and furnishing us with table, chair, kit boxes and COFFEE! We were quite the envy of other clubs! Thanks to Ruth also for providing the very delicious flapjacks – pretty sure I ate more calories than I expended this morning. A big congratulations to all who ran. Apologies that I did a terrible job of captaining today, not only was I in the toilet queue for so long that I missed the pre race photo (Charlie has kindly AI’d me in!) but I also forgot to take a photo of the results before I handed them in, so here they are from memory. If I’ve missed anyone, I’m so sorry, let me know and I’ll amend accordingly. Special congrats to Ruth Briggs on her spectacular 3rd lady finish!

For the men:

Danny Chatfield, Stu Meadows, Dom Wake, Neil Bellamy, Dave Hart, Dan Parr, Nick Emmett, Colin Marshall, Ross Maclagan, Pete Maidment and John Gray and for the ladies Ruth Briggs, Helen Straker, Hannah Hall, Helen Collett, Mimi Reed, Jane Mercer and Lisa Barker.

Standby for news of one last fixture of the season at Alver Valley – likely to be in April but not yet confirmed; I’ll keep you posted.