Mud-loving Harriers excel off road

Last weekend saw 3 Harriers representatives race at two different, but equally tough, off road events in the South West. Close to home, the off-road loving duo of Jon and Lorraine Croome were over in the East Devon village of Dalwood for the annual running of the Dalwood 3 Hills Challenge race. Coming in at 10 miles but packing a whopping amount of climb into what most competitors would argue is actually 3 1/2, if not 4, hills, rather than the advertised 3, this is a fun and friendly but extremely tough multi-terrain event. It was good to see Jon back to his running best after a long lay off with injury. Clearly he has still been keeping himself fit with his cycling as he managed to finish 12th overall and 2nd in his MV45 age category in a time of 83:04. Conditions were extremely muddy and extremely windy this year, just to add to the difficulty, making Jon's time all the more impressive.

Wife Lorraine was, as ever, not too far behind, fighting her own personal battles in the ever-competitive ladies section. On the day she had some very stiff category competition from local off-road specialist, Lin Lascelles, so she did well to hang on to the 2nd FV45 spot and 56th place overall in a time of 1:42:04.

The Croomes certainly seem to have a fondness for this event as they have run it several times now and don't appear to be put off by the hills... maybe the excellent bacon butties on offer at the race HQ at the finish is what keeps luring them back?!

Meanwhile, down in Bodmin in Cornwall, Mike Musgrove was lining up for an off-road half marathon that is run around the grounds of Lanhydrock House and Respryn woods. The race is organised by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and so, as a fireman, it instantly attracted the attention of Mike who wanted to show those Cornish boys that the Devon brigade are an equal (if not better) match for them!

Mike reports that he did not taper for the race and ran it on the back of a heavy pre-London marathon training week of 80 some miles. Nevertheless, he says that he still felt strong in the race and, although he found the hills a bit hard going as he hasn't been doing much hill running of late, he had a strong and comfortable run. His time and position certainly reflect this as he finished an incredible 3rd overall, not bad considering he has now recently entered the vet 45 category. He was a comfortable winner of that section and also claimed the honours of first fireman home with his time of 85:39 for this tough, off-road 13.1 mile course.

Mike will now forgo racing for a while as he continues his build up towards London where he hopes to have a fully functioning timing chip this year and challenge his marathon PB of 2h50.

Well done to all 3 Harriers - we hope the mud washed off ok!

Mike receiving his prize for 3rd overall and first vet 45.