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.
These days the merrie month of May means Farnham Park MABAC. In my mind, there has always been a MABAC at Farnham, but discussing it with Roger today, it is perhaps one of the newer runs, replacing Puttenham when that fell foul of elfin safety or badger baiters or other objections. Can anyone confirm or clarify? Whatever the history, Farnham is one of the more straightforward courses, a long out and back, supplemented by 2 short loops. According to preference, either an 'undulating ' course or 'understated ' - but under-rate it at your peril. Superficially an easy parkland course, the long grass can catch out the unwary, being tough on the calves. This year, after the long dry spell, the grass seemed that little bit shorter and the ground harder, with faster times being recorded, for the Puffers at least. Good for the ego, if nothing more.
Last time, I noted the absence of any ladies from our team on the day, so it only seems right to open the report today with their performance. True, we still only had 3 lady runners, but they matched the men in numbers and surpassed them in points. First Puffer home, and 3rd lady overall, in her first MABAC of the year, was the indomitable Katy Gibson, in a little over 38 minutes. She was followed home, as the 14th lady, by our newest member, Vicki Francis, in her first MABAC, in just under 41 minutes. Welcome Vicki, and well done. And our 3rd lady home was Barbara Roussouw, or chatBAR as I must now call her, in under 43.5 minutes. Well done all. Collectively, you scored 80 points, more than Wimbledon, Chessington and MAGIC ladies combined, and more too than Reigate. Our three men could not match that performance. First home was Ken Swan, with yet another of his steady, consistent performances, edging ahead of Vicki by less than 30 seconds. I managed to come in a little ahead of Barbara who just edged Martin Rose home by a mere six seconds. Martin is fast becoming a MABAC regular, another very welcome addition to the small core group. Unfortunately, the men could not match the ladies for point scoring but the combined total still saw us outscore Wimbledon and puts us within a whisker of them in the table. When could we last say that? No room for complacency though, especially as the newcomers of Chessington are hard on our heels. But I am at risk of overlooking are other important contributions for we also had four 'walkers' - the indefatigable Roger Clark, George James, and Iain and Jane Nash. Iain had run a marathon the week before and decided, no doubt wisely, that a walk today would be better for his recovery. It was good to see all of them on the course (except Roger was too quick and had completed his 'walk' before most of us had finished the first lap). We (well, some of us) regularly fret and moan about the age profile of the Puffers so it is an extra pleasure to record that today we also had a junior runner, Tom Gibson, one of just four juniors, who completed the course in just over 32 minutes. Well done Tom. This isn't his first MABAC either, as he was at Reigate last year, so we look forward to you becoming a regular and supporting your mum. And finally, thanks to Liz Swan, who came along to give us welcome moral support on the day. After four races of the season, a big gulf is beginning to emerge in the table between the big clubs, with Epsom out in front, and the smaller ones. But we are hard on the heels of Wimbledon (yes, really) although Waverley and now Chessington are chasing us hard, so there is all to run for. The next event is at Denbie's on 10 June. A lovely run round the vineyards (usually) on a lovely summer's evening, with a bar on site too. Please mark the day in your diaries and stay fit and safe in the meantime 😀
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