| Despite the atrocious conditions, the good old British spirit held firm and a large number braved the elements to compete in the Abberley Hall Fun Run and 10K races. The 10K course had to be shortened as a steep and muddy section of the course had become too hazardous.
The Abberley Hall children livened up the event with some colourful fancy dress costumes. The competition was won by a A Spicer as a tattooed Maori, beating A Townley, K Bygott-Webb and H Free as three beach babes complete with surf board, and C Edwardes as Elvis Presley, into equal second place.
The winners of the races were really all those who competed on such an awful day. On running around the course the following morning, I followed a trail of discarded, sodden race numbers. That, together with a collapsed gazebo at the finishing post leading to a very damp results sheet, made the full set of accurate results difficult. However, there were some very impressive performances. S Stemkopf went one better than last year in the 10K to win and was well supported by his children with Lewis retaining his Under 8 title and Sophie coming third in the Fun Run race. Past regular winner of the old Fun Run, Richard Dilworth, was the first Veteran Male home in the 10K. E Gooderham, a recent participant in the London Marathon as an ‘Elite Athlete’, won the 10K jointly with M Richardson. S Eberlin ran impressively to keep Mrs Martyn-Smith in her last year’s place of second, in the Veteran Female 10K race. Old Abberley Hall girl, A Hay was the first female in the Fun Run and T Neath ran well to beat Abberley Hall’s F Hill and T Cole into second and third.
A special mention must go to the three Abberley Hall boys who completed the 10K race; J Philips, R Martyn-Smith and N Hinchley.
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