Young Mark Adkins must be somewhat frustrated. Despite taking a healthy chunk off his time from November he still only finished 15! That’s because last night, 12 out of the 25 people who ran The Stag achieved PB’s for the race and unfortunately for him he was the last of those to finish and ended up mid-pack.

In all fairness, Mark is one of an increasing number of people who are relatively new to the club and therefore also setting new personal best times in for the monthly handicap very regularly which is fantastic to see. What it also means is that no-one has had three “good” scores so far, and the competition is wide open.

On the night the, Mandy Clay – who isn’t new to it but has been attending Kate’s Tuesday sessions! – beat her time from last month by over 40 seconds to take the 25 points. She had a group of four finishing within seven seconds behind her as Katie Stanton, James Cusack, Graham Magill and Kas Gardner charged over the line. It was a baptism of fire for Kas at it was her first ever run with the club, but she was still talking at the end so hopefully she will come back!!

Sam Dear is now on a run of 5 consecutive PB’s for the race and came home to earn 20 points just ahead of Lisa Bowyer, Sarah Daniels, Amy Farnfield (on debut) and Stuart Read who continued the list of PB’s earners. Lynn Boddy was just behind and equalled her best ever as Jo Sharples completed the 12 as she edges closer towards the 16 minute mark.

Possibly the most remarkable performance though, was by Dom Grimshaw, who for the third consecutive month ran exactly 16:14. At least it make him easy to handicap!

We have a new overall leader after three months, with Stuart Dimmock’s six points on the night edging him ahead of Alex Ridout who was a no-show, while Mandy, Lisa, Graham and Stuart R are currently the nearest challengers, but there is still a very long way to go.

Next month’s race is on 6th January so please just remember that even if you’ve over-indulged over the Christmas break there is a fair chance everyone else has too so there will always be lots of points available.

See you all in Abingdon on Saturday………