Harriers hit Dorset for 'The Stickler'

Left: Manwell - 3rd fastest dog of the day, showing off his prize - doesn't he look thrilled about it?!
Right: The finish line of the race on platform 1, Shillingstone station. This pair clearly hadn't understood that this is a running race and the use of alternative transport results in disqualification.

On Sunday 30th October 6 Harriers (plus two supporters and a dog!) travelled to the village of Shillingstone in Dorset for the Dorset Doddler's organised 'Stickler' race. Also known as 'the three peaks challenge', this is a tough, off-road 10 miler that takes runners up and down three substantial hills, the tallest of which stands at 800ft, that form a horseshoe around the village.

The race proved very popular this year as 495 places of the maximum 500 were sold and so the narrow start and initial climb proved to be a bit of a bottle neck. This did not deter our 6 Harriers though who were all determined to beat the hills and have a strong run.

The race finishes in a rather quaint setting: on platform 1 of the old Shillingstone Station, which was closed in 1966 but is now open as a museum and tea rooms. Us two supporters - myself, Ellie, and Gareth, Lorraine's son - waited patiently on a bench on platform 2 for the runners to return.

Leading the Harriers home was Caroline Pleaseance. On the drive up Caroline mused that she always comes 4th in races, however, today they were offering prizes to 4th, so she predicted that she'd come 5th! Rubbish! She was in fact to come in a very strong 3rd place in the women's race and 41st overall, finishing just over a minute behind the 1st female runner in a very good time for such a tough course of 1.19.43. The curse of the 4th is broken! (Although her prize was a selection of local cheeses - not ideal for someone who doesn't like cheese!)
Caroline finishes an impressive 3rd in the ladies race - woo!

Next in for the Harriers, having a very strong race, was Terry Oldham. Terry completed the 10 miles in 1.28.41, giving him 113th place overall and 28th male V/50 - how strong a category was that?!
Full of running: Terry finishing very comfortably

Scott Jordan would have hoped to have given Terry a run for his money and was indeed in front of him for the opening few miles, but Terry pipped him on one of the hill climbs. Scott still ran well though for 174th place overall in a time of 1.34.16. He reported that the course was seriously slippery in places... in fact, he looked as though he'd brought half the course back with him as a souvenir, he was that caked in mud!
Scott finishing with Hambledon Hill - the last of the 3 hills the runners had to climb - visible behind him.

Next in, celebrating her... well, I won't say which birthday precisely, but she runs in the V/50 category, so you can take a guess, was Lorraine Gilson. Obviously fired up by the promise of some post-race birthday wine, Lorraine ran a stormer of a race, finishing just over a minute behind Scott in 1.35.43. The race entry was a birthday present to her by Terry and she clearly made the most of it!

Not far behind Lorraine was Dawn Teed. Dawn is renowned for choosing some of the most difficult races in area, having competed in the tough off-road Black Death run, Haytor Heller, Tywyn Race the Train, Charmouth Challenge and Sidmouth 10k, to name but a few this year, so this 10 miler won't have phased her. She finished in a time of 1.40.48 for 243rd place overall.

Last but by no means least was Katie Comer running the race with her dog, border terrier, Manwell! Katie was suffering with a slight cold and some other, rather more self-inflicted, grievances(!) and so she set out just to enjoy the race, this being the first race she's done with Manwell in tow. Manwell coped just fine, and it was in fact him doing the towing as he pulled Katie down the steep downhill sections a little faster than she might have liked! They finished in a time of 1.42.57, 252nd place, BUT, most crucially, they finished 3rd owner-dog pairing. Well done to them!
Katie and Manwell finish as the 3rd fastest owner+dog combo - bravo!

Harriers after the race with their momento hats - don't they look, er.... stupid?!

As it was Lorraine's birthday and this was a trip out, a hard earned post-race visit to the village pub, the Ox in, for Sunday lunch rounded off the proceedings. A good day out all round!

Happy, hungry Harriers tuck into their post-race nosh!