TRXCL Manor Farm Country Park

A minimum of five men and three ladies made up the Farnham Runners’ team at the 5th round of the Today’s Runner Winter League cross-country series, organised by Stubbington Green Runners at Manor Farm Country Park.

Although the fastest three men covered considerable extra distance due to directional signs being moved, for which the organisers apologised, the club still placed joint third overall out of the 17 clubs in the league.

The pleasant setting alongside the Hamble estuary provided the usual combination of mud, hills and tree roots for a typical Today’s Runner race.

Captain Dan Smith led in a strong trio and narrowly missed a top 10 position (12th) despite the added distance to his run. David Lloyd was denied his dream position of 8th this time (18th). Both had completed a 16-mile marathon training run only the day before.

Stuart Morgan enjoyed the benefit of new spikes but was disappointed that he lost about 20 places due to the mix up over the route (32nd). Terry Steadman took the course in his stride (60th), while Don Melvin made another strong contribution to the team (90th), which placed 7th.

Jane Georghiou and Jo Edson both made the top ten ladies (5th and 10th respectively), with Lindsay Bamford never far behind in 19th place for the excellent team result of third.