Lightwater September 2025

After the midweek runs of the summer,  today marked both the equinox and the return of MABACs to the customary Sunday morning. George has already posted many great photos of the day (See our Gallery)

The weather was appropriately equinoctial - decidedly chilly in the shade but pleasantly warm in the sun, ideal running conditions in fact, as it was also largely dry and firm underfoot. Late holidays, family commitments including taxi services and rival events meant Puffers numbers were somewhat down on the last two races. But numbers from other clubs were also well down, with overall turnout less than half what it was at Wimbledon, and some fine individual efforts meant a very creditable overall result for Puffers on the day. Although many regulars were absent,  it was good to see the return of some old faces after lengthy absences, as well as a welcome new face.

First Puffer home, and 5th overall, was David Ebert in 34min.27 secs. David has been a Puffer for some time but I suspect he prefers road running to cross country. Hopefully conditions and performance today will have persuaded him that MABAC s can be fun too and we look forward to seeing him at more events in the future. Welcome, David. Next home for the Puffers saw the welcome return of Alex Gillespie,  in his first MABAC of the year in 19th place. Alex has taken to cycling of late and despite a nasty sounding accident yesterday,  from which he still had the scars, turned in another fine performance. He has decided to try Triathlon,  so hopefully we will be seeing him regularly again in the future. First lady Puffer home, 17th lady overall, and leading the Puffers 'middle-order' was Vicki Francis. Vicki has quickly become a MABAC regular and today turned in another consistent performance. Not far behind, and packing well ( should that be chatting well?) came in quick succession Martin Rose, closely followed by Barbara Rossouw and yours truly. Martin has been a MABAC regular this year and it is good to see his performances regularly improving (don't be put off by all that pre-run grumbling, it's just how he deals with pre-run nerves😂. As for Barbara, listening to her groans on some of the early hills, I did worry whether she would finish, but once she got into her stride, she turned in another solid performance.  Rob Lewis is an old Puffers regular who has sadly been absent through injury for most of this year. So it was good to see him not only running today but finishing confidently. Fingers crossed that he will remain injury free while he recovers to full fitness. Also affected by injury earlier in the year was Katherine Sela. She returned to MABAC activity at Wimbledon and her performance today suggested she is fully recovered and back to form. As well as 8 runners, we had two walkers, George James, who took the fine photos of the runners while he walked, and Chris Nash, who provided vocal and moral support.  And while we all run in MABACs for fun and pleasure (don't we?) we also score points for the team, so let's me finish by noting that our smaller team outscored much bigger clubs such as Wimbledon and Reigate on the day, as well as Waverley. Well done all, a fine performance 👏