Farley Heath - MABAC April 2026

A fine spring morning, albeit with a cold wind blowing, following weeks of little rain, made for near ideal running conditions for the third MABAC event of the year at Farley Heath. Long time Puffers will recall that it didn't use to be like this. For ten years from 2015, it was our home MABAC venue and traditionally the last event of the calendar, in mid-November. In later years Waverley Harriers helped with the organising until our move to Wisley last year since when they have been responsible for Farley Heath and the date has moved to April. November runs were notorious for the mud bath at the bottom of the hill in which Paula Holmes once (in)famously lost her shoe. Today the bigger challenge for runners is the soft sand near the start and finish, a consequence of the drier conditions in spring. 

Puffers once again had a strong turnout, with a full complement of runners of both sexes. Before going through the runners, however, special mention is due to four individuals. Although Waverley now have sole responsibility for the event, they have been so impressed by Roger Clark's marshalling skills in the past that they asked for his help in marshalling the key junction at the end of the first lap. Chris Nash joined him and together they handled it with aplomb. Wade Pollard's name may not be familiar name to many Puffers but he is a former stalwart who stills turns out regularly to help with the car parking at our own events. Today he agreed to do the same for Waverley and stayed to walk a lap. David Ebert's mother, Louise, turned up to give him moral support, as she often does, but ended up taking on the crucial task of recording the finishers, Waverley having seemingly overlooked this critical role. Well done and thank you to all - without the marshals and other helpers there wouldn't be a race for the rest of us.

To the results. Puffers have got off to a very strong start for the year, with good turnouts at the two previous events and 4th place finishes each time. Could we maintain our position? Already a gap is opening between two of the 'biggies' - Epsom, last year's champions, and Dorking, and the rest of the field and a strong turnout from Waverley as home club was only to be expected. So good individual performances would be needed. And once again, Puffers delivered. First home was David Ebert in 10th place overall, followed by Will Westlake, who was just outside the first twenty. Next home and 30th overall was David Barlow, better known to some perhaps as Katherine Sela's cousin, who is an occasional, rather than regular, runner with us, but very welcome whenever he does come, especially when he turns in performances like today's. Puffers may not have the stellar runners that some of the other clubs do but one of our strengths has to be our 'middle order' which was well demonstrated today, for Craig Waddle  was only seconds behind David and hard on Craig's heels was Paula Holmes, 3rd lady finisher and finding her form nicely for the London Marathon at the end of the month. On second thoughts, perhaps my 'middle order' comment was misplaced, for there was a noticeable gap after Paula and before the next finisher, who led a large pack of runners all with similar times, among whom was Katy Gibson. When I saw her on the course, Katy seemed to be boxed in by a group of other runners, which may have affected her finish time, although it probably made for a fascinating tussle for spectators. That gave us six finishers in the first 50, but just two other ladies separated Katy Gibson and Katie Westlake, suggesting we could see some interesting tussles there in future events. After Katie we had another instance of 'Puffers packing' with Ian Holmes, another London Marathon entrant, just edging out Ken Swan as the last of our 'additional points' men scorers. And close behind Ken was Sam Shawyer. Sam has joined us recently at the bridge on Saturday mornings but this was her first MABAC. The final hill may have taken her unawares but she turned in a very impressive performance. Well done Sam, and welcome. Next but one lady finisher was Vicki Francis, herself a newcomer not so long ago but now a regular, turning in another steady performance. That meant that our five 'extra points scoring' ladies were all in the first twenty lady finishers, an excellent performance.  

Do Puffers like to run in groups? I ask because we then had another 'mini-pack' with Barbara Roussouw, Katherine Sela and Martin Rose as our next finishers, with only an errant Windmiler separating them. Katherine had run her first half marathon 3 weeks ago, while Martin is in training for some super-endurance event, so ran round the course at least once before the start of the race, then once more afterwards. As it was, he finished right behind Katherine - one of his famous sprint finishes in which he just failed to catch her, or his gentlemanly nature showing through? Answers on a postcard please. Our final finisher was Laurence Flavell. Sadly we have seen little of Laurence lately - his previous MABAC was at Wimbledon last August - so it was good to see him running again, and his sub-50 minute finish time showed his latent talent is still there. 

Collectively it was another fine effort with us once again finishing 4th on the day, but results for the other clubs mean that we move up a place in the table, so we are now 3rd. If anyone thinks we have ever been higher, please let me know! But we are still less than one-third of the way through the season, so everything is still to run for. Next up is Farnham Park on 17th May, a lovely, open course, with no nasty hills. So please mark your diary if your haven't already, and please make every effort to come and run!

Finally, two 'house-keeping' notices. First, thank you to everyone who has paid their membership dues for this year. For those of you yet to do so, the Paypal link remains open until 30th or you can pay me in cash at the bridge. At just £5, it's less than the cost of two cups of coffee but gives you free running at MABAC events all year, and discounted entry to any ARC events. And secondly, after today's race the suggestion was made that we get a larger flag, more in keeping with those that the other clubs have. I will look into options in the coming weeks but if anyone has suggestions, or strong views, on the proposal, please let me know.

Happy running!