SXCL in Alice Holt Forest and our annual Club Handicap

SXCL in Alice Holt Forest

Farnham Runners race director, Craig Tate-Grimes co-ordinated other clubs in the Southern Cross-Country League to help with the staging of the third event of the season in Alice Holt Forest. Forestry England gave their permission for the race to go ahead and it was, for the fourth time, a welcome addition to the calendar as venues are hard to find.

Craig planned the route, distributed all the necessary information, instructed the marshals and, aided by Chris Gill, clearly marked out the course. Although it partly included gravel trails there were plenty of muddy paths and even one down to a stream. The many ascents and descents added to the challenge.

Forty-nine Farnham Runners safely negotiated the course, nine men and thirty ladies.

The first four men and ladies count for their teams and the points for each team’s placing are added to give the final tally. The men came 9th of the 22 teams and the ladies 2nd giving an overall score of 5th.

As in many recent races Joe Collins was the first Farnham Runner to appear at the line in a splendid 6th place. Dominic Fry 61st, newcomer Simon Millard 63rd and Ivan Chunnett 70th completed the score. Just out of the scoring team came Charlie Walters 77th, Colin Addison 80th and Nick Grist 81st.

Now back running for the club Gabriella Hitchcock was the first Farnham lady in 10th place, closely followed by Leza Milligan, 12th. Next in was Linda Tyler in 27th with Sue Taylor as final scorer, in 41st. Not far back were Candy Waller 44th, Lina Haines 45th, Anna Buckmaster 55th, Lindsay Bamford 57th, Gemma Whitehouse 64th and Lizzie Morgan 71st.

Also tackling the tough route for the men were: Harry May, Andy Brown, Richard Denby, James Fabian. Ronan O’Carroll, Chris Allen, Terry Copeland, Howard Inns, Terry Steadman, Jonathan Tyler, Joe Napier and Chris Gill.

The other ladies that took on the route were Marisa Luttrell, Jane Georghiou, Gill Iffland, Vicky Goodluck, Kay Copeland, Sandra Hickey, Kelly Lincoln, Jane Allen, Tori Shaw, Megan Grocott, Lizzie Collins, Colette Grist, Kate Townsend, Natalie Groom, Julia Tagg, Ros Lankester, Pauline Hamilton, tail runners Shirley Perrett and Penny Schnabel, and Rachel Morris.

See the Photo Gallery 2024 for further photos from this event

Club Handicap

Farnham Runners’ annual Handicap race. This is a long-standing event that began in winter 1985 during the first year of the club. Despite the inclement weather with rain throughout the race and floods in Dene Lane, 30 members turned out to compete.

The runners all had an equal chance of winning the trophy which is engraved with the winner’s name each year.

There were also prizes of boxes of chocolates for the first three back, as well as for the best three fancy dress costumes.

“Mystic Meg” aka Jane Georghiou was in attendance. She explained how, assisted by her crystal ball, she had predicted an expected time for each runner and so work out their handicap. The difference in handicaps between the first and last runner to set off was over 20 minutes, showing the wide diversity in paces of members of the club over the 4.25 mile route.

Stephen Buckmaster gave his all in a determined performance to beat the rest of the field by well over a minute. Runner up was his daughter, Anna Buckmaster, while Colette Grist and Kate Townsend crossed the line together for joint third place.

The fancy dress judges Penny Schnabel and Shirley Perrett soon chose Lindsay Bamford as Norbot the robot gnome as the winner of the fancy dress, with Debbie Moorcroft as Chocolate Mousse and Gemma Whitehouse as Barbie second. Sally Lawrence as a cowboy on a horse came third.

Craig Tate-Grimes who, helped by Chris Gill, had set up signs for the course, announced the winners. Thanks were given to all who helped, including Linda Tyler who organised the refreshments and Richard Denby, Colette Grist and Craig Tate-Grimes who took the photos.

Other runners were Julia Tagg, Emma Dawson, Richard Denby, Lina Haines, Gill Iffland, Becky Martin, Lizzie May, Sandra Hickey, Kurt Budge, Ivan Chunnett, Jonathan Tyler, Lizzie Collins, Howard Inns, Mark Maxwell, Colin Addison, Laylan Pointon-Berkowitz, Joe Collins, Kay Copeland, Ros Lankester, and Joe Napier.

See the Photo Gallery 2025 for further photos from this event