Future Events

A quick update of events and pub runs coming up:-

The fourth Maiden Newton Running Club pub run will be on Wednesday 25th April at 6.30 pm, meeting at the New Inn, Cerne Abbas. Phil has agreed to plan the route and apparently has already resorted to marching his entire family round sections of it between Sunday lunch and tea. I'm sure they were thrilled!

Martin and I will be hosting a YTRRC run from the White Hart at Yetminster on the 17th May, route as yet unplanned. Yeovil are having a total White Hart month - visiting pubs of the same name at Bishops Caundle (3rd) Sherborne (10th) and Crewkerne (24th)!

As mentioned at the latest meeting - Egdon Health Harriers have pub runs on Tuesday evenings and many of their locations are very local for us. There is a complete list on their website, but here is a selection that Martin and I may try to get to:-

24th April - Brewers Arms at Martinstown
15th May - White Horse at Litton Cheney
12th June - Greyhound at Sydling St Nicholas
26th June - Halstock Golf Club
24th July - our very own Chalk and Cheese
7th August - Piddle Inn, Piddletrenthide
18th September - Lower Burton, Charminster

Right on to the serious stuff - future events:-

First of all good luck to everyone running in London next Sunday - especially Lesley who is running in aid of breast cancer (and if I didn't catch you at this month's meeting it won't be too late to sponsor her at the next one), but also to Nigel Johns who has carried his place over from last year, and to Martin who despite some very sketchy training is hoping to go sub 3 hours again - and I am sure that he will.

Other races coming up:-

6th May - Glastonbury Road Race (4th race in the Somerset Series) and also the Neolithic marathon, which Martin and I will be doing as further training for the ultra events later in the season.
13th May - the most important of all, our own Johnny Kipps, which will see Martin going for the hat trick although 2 marathons in the preceding fortnight may give the rest of you a chance!
20th May - Wessex Ridgeway relay - this year we are running a Maiden Newton team of Dave, Phil, Martin and myself, each tackling 3 legs, and desperately hoping for some better weather than we endured last May. One thing is for sure, it can't be worse.

Looking ahead to June there will be the Ninesprings 9km, 4.5km and fun run at Goldenstones on the 10th June and I will bring some entry forms to the next meeting. This is a YTRRC race so Martin and I will volunteer to help with entries and results as further practice ready for the New Ten.

I think that's probably enough to be going on with - don't forget to share your race reports on the blog!

Easter Bunnies

Easter Monday at Yeovilton Air Base is the scene of the annual Yeovil Town Road Running Club's 10k race. This year saw three MNRC members competing for a chocolate Easter Egg (each).
Lesley, paced by Richard was hoping for a new PB of sub 50 minutes for 10K distance, and Eric aiming to improve his time at the Egdon Easy 10k last year.
Lin and I were stationed at the 3k marker making sure everybody turned left into Queen Camel, and nobody was mown down by speeding motorists heading in the same direction.
After the race got under way it wasn't long before Lesley and Richard appeared, closely followed by Eric, well placed in the field of 360 entrants.
Once the sweeper with 80 year-old Harry Moore had passed, we hastened back to the start, picking up the flags and signs on the way, just in time to see the race winner finish in just over 32 minutes.

A few minutes later, Lesley and Richard came round the corner into the finishing straight, and with a final sprint for the line, Lesley was well under her target with an excellent PB of 48:40 or so.

Eric was not far behind in just over 55 minutes, again a PB.

After collecting their eggs, they posed for the picture below.

Talbot Inn Pub Run

Wednesday 4th April saw Maiden Newton runners gathering at the Talbot Inn, Benville for the third in what will hopefully be an ongoing series of organised pub runs. Unlike previous outings, not only was it light, but it was also a beautiful evening, and consequently there was a good turn out - we almost made double figures (well if you count Harvey the dog, then there were 10 of us!) We would have attracted some Yeovil runners if we hadn't managed to set the date for the same night as their monthly committee meeting (must avoid first Wednesday of the month in future!)

Martin and I had planned a scenic cross country route and at least this was one area where we weren't going to get lost. The 12 months that we recently spent living in Corscombe gave us ample opportunity to explore this beautiful section of countryside, and it was great to have an opportunity to revisit it.

After a 6 mile run we all repaired to the pub with hearty appetites and enjoyed the varied menu and cheap beer (£2 a pint - amazing!). There was discussion about the next outing and we nominated Phil to plan the route as it will be on his home ground - starting at the New Inn in Cerne Abbas, date to be decided at the April meeting.