Again another demolition job as we took the rest of the opposition apart, if not quite as completely as the last match. None the less with all our 10 scorers in the top 20 and with 6 in the top 7 we showed that we are way above this level of competition – any of our first 3 home would have won the Div 3 race that was combined with our Div 4 race.

John Gilbert really enjoyed his first win over the country since his teens and strolled away from the rest of the field from the start- despite going off course before James called him back. James Connor then did just enough to hold onto 2nd place, securing the Overall title for the season , and saved his legs for a Half Marathon the next day which he duly won in 68” 06’ ! Next in 4th and 5th places were two of our key men our successful venture this year, Rich Munn and Michael Claff, closely followed by Graeme Garner and Andy Moreton - both having solid runs despite still having the ‘Southern’ in their legs.

We had fewer of our top men out in this match but the most pleasing thing in many ways was how well our U20’s and first year Seniors have done and how committed they have been – unlike our O40’s. Lee haze came in 10th and has run every race despite trying to sort out a recurring injury and even 800m man Rawlston Morian has shown what a team player he is by running 3 races and scoring in them all. He just caught Peter Clark (who had a great run to come home 18th) on the line with a judicious use of his elbow as they were given the same time. Another U20 Calem Fraser , despite having an ‘off day’ showed his real talent by closing the team home in 20th place.

We had 15 runners on the day which gave us welcome backup and pushed the other teams scorers down so Stuart Scott, Bernie Hutchinson, Richard Archer and Ted Hadlow had done their bit for the team cause on the day.

So we can look forward to the AGM where we will take every award – James Connor (Overall Senior), Richard Archer (Overall U20) and the Divisional Shield.