SXCL at Lord Wandsworth College and the Celtic Trail Ultra Marathon

SXCL Lord Wandsworth College

Farnham Runners group assembled before the 2024 SXCL Lord Wandsworth cross country race

It was back to the mud with the second round of the Southern Cross-Country League events, held in the grounds of Lord Wandsworth College and organised by Hart Road Runners. The course proved to be challenging all the way round, either hilly, muddy or with roots to look out for, though these had been meticulously marked in orange by the host club. Those who had run the route in previous years remarked that it could be much wetter underfoot, sometimes with knee deep puddles where this year there were muddy patches!

Farnham Runners were delighted to finish 3rd on the day out of 22 clubs, with the ladies a fine 2nd and the men 7th.

The club’s scorers were Joe Collins 4th, Chris Cary 16th, Ivan Chunnett 60th and Colin Addison 68th and for the ladies Lizzie May 2nd, Leza Millington 11th, Gabriella Hitchcock 13th and Linda Tyler 27th.

In the first 100 back were:

  • Men: Charles Ashby 77th, newcomer Simon Millard 80th, Paul Keogh 83rd and Harvey Wickham 90th.
  • Ladies: Sue Taylor 33rd, Candy Waller 35th, Gemma Whitehouse 52nd Tori Shaw 76th, Kay Copeland 77th, Jane Georghiou 85th, Vicky Goodluck 90th and Lizzie Collins 100th.

Also braving the mud in support of the club were Charlie Walters, Mike Carter, Harry May, Richard Denby, Chris Gill, Howard Inns, Terry Steadman, Craig Tate-Grimes and Jonathan Tyler for the men and Alison Lamb, Kelly Lincoln, Laura Smith, Jane Allen, Laylan Pointon-Berkowitz, Colette Grist, Kate Townsend, Nicola O’Connor, Penny Schnabel and Julia Tagg for the ladies.

See the Photo Gallery 2024 for further photos from this event

Celtic Trail Ultra Marathon

Ali Hardaway (left) and Chris Raby (right) selfie before the start of the 2024 Celtic Trail Ultra marathon in Wales

In mid-December Chris Raby joined former Farnham Runners’ men’s captain Ali Hardaway, who is now based in Wales, for the 34 mile (55km) Celtic Ultra Marathon.

With 5,850 ft of ascent through the remote Afan Forest and Rhigos mountains, it was a serious challenge for which both had put in the mileage in training.

Running together on the day, they were rewarded with an impressive time of 7:07:33/34, both topping their age categories.