I make no apologies for leading once again with the ladies, as we had a full complement of them for the first time since Farley Heath last November, and they were our star performers on the night, outscoring the men despite being fewer in number. First home was Aimee Billington, in her first MABAC since Reigate last year and making a very welcome return as the 11th lady overall. For good measure, Aimee brought not one, not two, but three friends to add to the Puffers complement - more below. But just five seconds behind her was Paula Holmes, the timings suggesting it was something of a tussle between the two - maybe a sprint finish by Aimee made the difference? Family groups are something of a Puffers feature and on Tuesday Team Holmes was out in force, our next lady finisher being Esme Holmes, flying the flag for the younger generation.  A lady runner in another club, who shall remain nameless, complained after Farley Heath about Esme running with earphones. So, this time Esme ran without earphones and admitted afterwards that she had enjoyed the quiet and the view. It certainly doesn't seem to have affected her performance! (The same nameless lady has complained this time that 'the lady in front of me ...was running on a slight diagonal in front of me which made it very difficult to overtake...' I kid you not). Not far behind Esme was a newcomer, Clare Fineberg, one of Aimee's aforementioned friends. Their respective timings suggest that Esme and Clare are finely balanced in performance terms. I'm sure we could look forward to some interesting tussles between them if they were to come regularly, it would certainly be great to see them. Our fifth lady finisher was Barbara Roussouw (ChatBAR), in a timing very close to last year's, suggesting great consistency in her performances - something I envy  as I see my own timings get progressively slower! But there is more to come. For the first time since I started these reports, we had a sixth lady runner, in this case Amy Henley, another of Aimee's friends, so also making her first appearance for us. Before the start Amy was hesitating whether to try the full 5 miles or opt for just one lap. To her credit she went for the full course. Well done Amy, the next MABAC is less of a challenge, so we hope to see you there!

Preliminary results are just in. I'll try to get a proper report out later but for now suffice to say we had a small Puffers team but they turned in some very creditable performances.  And a big shout out to our ladies who this time comfortably outscored not just the men but Wimbledon and Reigate ladies too.