Results

A longer report from Ben will follow, but here are a few highlights in summary.

Firstly, well done to Florence in the most junior category (ok, it wasn't quite her debut), and her mother Tara for improving by over 4 minutes compared to this race last year.

The ERR men's team finished 4th in Division 1 on the day, which is the best result I can remember (can any Creasey brothers think of a better one?), and now lie 5th for the season. The ERR women finished 8th in Division 2 on the day, and are 6th for the season overall.

There were 135 women finishers on the day, and 207 men.

A smallish turnout at Culham meant that it was something of a joker-fest, which I'm sure wasn't the idea when this was added to the fixture list. Anyway, the men's team still had an excellent day, finishing a creditable 6th in Division 1 on the day (and not far behind 5th), to stand 7th overall for the season. The ladies struggled without Hannah, and finished 8th in Division 2 on the day, 6th overall for the season.

Well done to Mark Baker for leading the men home, but the Good Egg of the Day award has to go to Andy Goodwin, who went all the way to Banbury to run, only to find that there wasn't anyone there (something to do with reading the wrong year's fixtures). Commitment to the cause, albeit in the wrong direction.

157 finished the women's race, and 255 finished the men's.

Here is the Captain's Log (courtesy of Ben), followed by the results:

Some fantastic performances at the Andy Reading, with excellent PBs for Chris, Arthur, Marie and Tess, although pride of place has to go to Simon for finally nailing that elusive sub-40 minute 10k, which I think he was quite pleased about. In case you're wondering, all jokers are placed in the final race if they haven't already been played. If I've missed any PBs, please let me know.

A course of 2 halves at Harcourt Hill: a fairly flat gallop on the grass around the sports pitches, then a proper muddy romp through the woods. Welcome to Antonio to his first British Cross Country, which apparently is rather different from the Spanish version. 

Well done to Hannah for her 3rd place, leading the Eynsham ladies to 4th place in Division 2 on the day, while the ERR men overcame a few notable absences to finish 7th in Division 1. Thus far for the season, the our ladies are 6th and the men 7th.

There were 132 finishers in the women's race, and 248 in the men's.

As ever, a massive thank you to pretty much the whole club, who turned out to help make the 2014 Eynsham 10k as popular and successful as ever. To quote the only review I've found so far on Runner's World:

Can't fault anything. Organisation is second-to-none and the marshals did a wonderful job.

Among the runners there were some fantastic performances. Congratulations to Robert for securing the Oxon County Grand Prix title for 2014, and to Hannah for beating her own club record and finishing 2nd overall in the Grand Prix ladies' category.

Well done to all the others who set PBs, or made their debuts at the distance. If I've missed anyone, please let me know.

Thanks to all those who ran or helped out with our own club event.

Hugh 'pre-booked' his joker.  If there were any others, please let me know.

Results below, with the longer race first.

The candlelit run through Wytham Woods was a unique and pretty amazing experience for all who did it.

The pictures below give some indication of what you might have missed, and are copyright Maga Esberg 2014.

They are a bit too big to upload onto our website, hence the OneDrive link. Others can be viewed on the Wytham Woods Facebook page.

To view them, click the links below.

As a few club members have been putting in some serious miles recently, it seems only fair to publish the results in the longer races.

If yours isn't included, or a PB has been missed, let me know.

Chippenham ½ Marathon, September 7:

Ben Pollard 1.23.46, Graham Bridges 1.25.51, Tess Evans 1.50.27

Robin Hood Half Marathon, September 28

Chris Williams 1:24:35 (PB)

Blenheim Half Marathon, October 5

Shayne Humphrey 1:51:31, Martin Johnson 2:02:31, Olga Nawalaniec 2:09:13

Swindon Half Marathon, October 12

Jacky Pinnock 1:45:47

This was a Club Championship race, so Jacky gets 50 points, wins the wine, and gets to write the report, below...

Where were you all! 

After weeks of asking down the club if anyone else had entered the Swindon Half, it soon became clear that no one had.  My only hope was Mark Creasey trying to gain a few points on Tony Whitlock, who had opted for the International Race in Munich.

On the Friday before the race, whilst I was checking the British Heart Foundation website for race details, I noticed that there was also a 5 mile Multi-Terrain Race which could be entered on the day, so after moaning to Adrian about me being the only ERR doing the race, he conceded and agreed to come along with me and do the 5 mile race instead of the usual Sunday morning, as he would most likely be the only one at the car park on the Sunday morning anyway.

It was a cold and foggy start to the day but the forecast promised it would clear with brighter spells later.  After being sent the wrong way to the car park by a marshal,  we eventually parked up with lots of time to spare and headed off to collect our BHF T-shirts.  Still no sign of Mark Creasey,  so it seemed he had decided he had enough points already to secure his Championship place!

Normally there is a sea of blue tops at most ERR Club Championship races but on this occasion all I could see was RED (BHF T-shirts).   I lined up for the start, a solitary ERR runners next to an ostrich.

The first quarter of a mile or so was up hill towards the old town of Swindon, there was a steel band playing and lots of supporters so it was a good start to the race.   The route then headed out towards the village of Badbury where it climbs steadily from about mile 2 to the 6 mile marker, this should have been the scenic part of the route but unfortunately the fog hadn't cleared enough to enjoy the views across to Uffington Castle.  From mile 8 it's a steep desent back towards Swindon.  I kept more a less to my 8 minute mile plan which brought me home in 1:45:47 (not my fastest) but then there wasn’t any competition to push me to go faster to get any more Championship Points.  Luckily the ostrich didn’t catch me.

And yes I did enjoy the wine, which, of course, I shared with Adrian after all he did come and support me in my hour of need.

Yorkshire Marathon, October 12
Hannah Hale 3:12:59 (PB, Club Record), Steve Butler 4:18:01

Munich Marathon, October 12
Graham Bridges 3:19:14 (PB), Kate Williamson 3:40:59


Munich Half Marathon, October 12
Denise Bridges 1:37:46, Tony Whitlock 1:46:22, Jane Larbalestier 2:02:24

Oxford Half Marathon, October 12

Great Birmingham Run (Half Marathon), October 19

Jonathan Marks 1:52:46, Andy Greenwood 2:15:55

Abingdon Marathon, October 19

Firstly, well done to Hannah for another spectacular club record in winning the Senior Ladies title.

Honourable mentions should also go to Robert and Jacky for their County Championship prizes, and Simon who managed such an excellent time having run 10 miles to get there. 

A bit of a joker-fest among the men - let me know if I missed anybody's.