MIDLAND XC CHAMPS, NEWBOLD COMYN, LEAMINGTON, SAT. 28^TH JAN 2006

Today we christened the new shelter kindly donated by Khyam tents. The designated tent area was the frozen goal mouth of a football pitch, which, when it melted made the site look like the field tents at the battle of the Somme. The first race was highlighted by Dodger Gregory and Alex Jackson disappearing until three minutes before their start time, there was much talk of public flogging etcetera.

The course was, as usual, heavy with that special kind of glutinous mud only Newbold Comyn can provide, I think all the junior runners made it back.

The Women’s race was a whitewash for Charnwood with Kate Ramsey, Tara thingy. and Juliet Potter finishing one, two, and three.

For us Cath Mijovic, continuing her fine vein of form, and Clare Grice, having not trained for a week, having a fine battle. Cath took the lead in the early stages although she admitted she found the fact she could see the leaders was a bit worrying; Faye Manger (known as “Gaye” for the day due to my poor writing on the entry form) was not far behind and Louise Harman a bit further back; as the race progressed Clare gradually reeled in Cath’s lead and finally edged in to finish 19^th. Cath was just five seconds behind in 21^st. Sadly, Faye had a problem with a painful foot which came on quite early and finally forced her to give up. This meant we could not close a team as we didn’t have any runners in reserve. Louise stuck to the task well and finished 85^th in her first Midland Champs. We are hanging on in these races but desperately need more support, as do the senior men who finished 6^th despite Tom Penfold retiring with a badly gashed leg, and Tekla Merid feeling unwell.