After the perefct cool conditions of March's Stag race, there was a stark contrast with the damp and breezy conditions offered up by the April race last night. The fairly unpleasant evening did not stop 18 hardy souls from venturing out in the quest for a quick run and to pick up a few points.

Of those 18, 4 were doing their first Stag of the season and two further ones were doing their first ever. Before the race, Pete Mackrell had already sewn up the title but there was a battle going on for the minor places between a number of different people. Most of those individuals were reliant on getting a high points score to improve their current tally.

As is often the way, it is difficult to get the handicap spot on for someone who has never run the Stag before and people often finish first or last at their inital attempt and this month was no exception. Steve Duvivie joined the club in February after entering the Edinburgh marathon and Phil Brunton had his first run with us last week after moving to the area. In the end, Phil had enough to come home first in a time of 17:04 and Steve Just about held on to second place in 15:21 as he just pipped Ian Hosley into third.

Of the people who were involved in challenging for the title overall, Pete Mackrell was first back and earned 20 points, but this was not enough to improve his overall total so finished with a solid 109. Having just about clung on to Pete's vest Andy Inchley took 19 points, which turned out to be just enough to improve his total by two to 97 and overtake the absent Warren Rose (96) for second place overall for the season as Warren held on to the bronze medal. The only other person run in all seven Stag races this year was Amy Inchley who finished one point behind Warren in a very tight competition for the minor places.

So overall congratulations must go to Pete who improved his October time on four occasions throughout the season and his March time was 48 seconds quicker than October. He did all seven races in all conditions that allowed him to drop his slightly weaker points at the end of the season and that is how to do it!

The point of the Stag is not about the fastest people, but about those who improve consistently over the winter – or at least stay the same in the poorer conditions – and Pete was the only one who achieved that this year. This is why it is about the most prestigious club trophy to win. It puts everyone on a level playing field and recognises the commitment of lots of races over a long period while improving all the time, so don't be scared of it, it's all over in no time at all and improves your speed no end, offering much needed variation in training.

We hope to see you all in Parson's Close on 3rd October setting your stall out for the new season.

The Stag in Numbers for 2011/12:

• 1972 points were earned 
• 122 runs completed (Ave. 17 runners)
• 46 different runners (35 men, 11 ladies)
• 26 times between 17 & 18 minutes (Biggest minute block)
• 25 people achieved PB's
• 9 people made their debut
• 4 people ran 6 races (all finished top 10)
• 3.18 was the biggest improvement over the season
• 3 people ran all seven races (all finished top 4!)
• 1 person scored over 100 points