HXCL Goodwood

Farnham Runners enjoyed a full weekend of racing with the third round of the Hampshire cross-country series at Goodwood on Saturday followed by the Hampshire road series Lordshill ten miler on Sunday, four of the men competing in both.

At Goodwood the forecast rain held off and conditions were ideal. The men tackled a tough course of approximately 9km with two ascents of a challenging hill.

Charles Ashby led the team for the entire way and put injury worries aside to finish a strong 119th in a time of 34.17. Men’s captain Dan Smith started cautiously near the back of the pack in anticipation of his race the next day. He could not help moving through the field and eventually finished a whisker behind Ashby in 120th slot (34.20). David Lloyd made a welcome first appearance in Farnham colours for a fine 177th (36.57). Terry Steadman (189th, 37.52, 19th V50) pulled out all the stops to stay ahead of Andy Tweed (192nd, 37.57).

Peter Fane was also racing for the club for the first time and showed his potential with a time of 38.31 (203rd), after minimal training. Don Melvin (233rd, 42.21) showed his commitment to league events and made valuable contribution to the veterans’ standing, which was 14th of 20 teams in Division Two.

The ladies were let off with only one ascent of the hill in their 5.8 km route. The first three count for the scoring team, which placed a pleasing 11th (and fourth veteran’s team) out of a total of 26 clubs entered.

Led in by Jane Georghiou (36th, 24.04) Lindsay Bamford (64th, 26.44) and Jo Edson (74th, 27.13) battled for the next club slot. Frances Britain (78th, 27.32) still had the previous weekend’s Karrimor International Mountain Marathon in her legs while Julie Russ used the race to help her return to fitness (97th, 31.03).