Last Weekend’s Grindleford 21, an off road event in the wilds of Derbyshire, involves a very, very tough course, during which the unforgiving terrain of that part of the world rises to a high point of some 2500 feet. With that in mind it was a great achievement for Dave and Dot Pullman, Sandy Clark and Alison Hoggarth to complete the course in just over 5 hours 22 minutes.

By way of a loosener Dave also ran the Spen 20 in West Yorkshire the following day, not an easy course in itself, but he did that in a shade over 3 hours, despite near blizzard conditions, to complete an exhausting weekend. Also at Spen, Keith Wilson’s excellent 2.49 earned him first over 60 prize, and Patsy Fenelon returned a sprightly 3.12 as part of her marathon build up.

While all this was going on, the cross country brigade were contesting the final league race of the winter at a bitingly cold Sewerby. As expected the mens team finished third and the ladies fourth, both very respectable results given the high quality of the league. On the day Simon Griffin was 8^th for the men, with Martin Midgley and Martin Booth also in top 20 positions, while Julie Masterman starred for the ladies with a battling 4^th place. Both Julie and Patsy Fenelon won prizes in their age categories.

Sewerby times and positions (overall league standings in brackets for those doing the minimum five races to qualify):

8^th Simon Griffin (5^th overall) 35.51, 14^th Martin Midgley (12^th) 37.23, 18^th Martin Booth 38.18, 26^th Alan Bexon (22^nd) 39.01, 28^th Dave Hanney (17^th) 39.14, 38^th Neil Bentley (24^th) 40.52, 42^nd Nigel Warner (38^th) 41.26, 43^rd Mark Thompson (40^th) 41.51, 61^st Dave Ryan (55^th) 43.36, 68^th Ray Smith 44.56, 75^th Richard Anness (60^th) 47.27, 79^th Mick Fenelon (61^st) 49.54.

Ladies: 4^th Julie Masterman (6^th overall) 42.20, 12^th Kay Vickers (9^th) 49.26, 19^th Karen Mitchell 54.04. Patsy Fenelon and Sandy Clark, who didn’t run Sewerby but did the previous five races, were 13^th and 15^th in the League table.