Wall of red welcomes home runners in Wycombe
The cross country season finale took Maidenhead Athletic Club (MAC) members to Bradenham Woods near High Wycombe at the weekend, with runners greeted by a wall of red cheering them to the finish line.
Adam Bennett went quickest for MAC, finishing third overall on a tough course which featured testing climbs and awkward descents. Tom Easten was the next to emerge in 22nd with Mark Freed 40th, Pete Church 45th, Alex Del Campo 56th and Sean Keddy 63rd. Becky Atkinson was the club’s first female in 47th, with Kirsty Matthews 54th, Fran Sille 105th and Mel Tudor 116th.
Brett Siddons, running as a guest of MAC finished 48th.
When the results were added to previous events it elevated the club’s women’s team to first and the men to fifth. Overall, the club finished second, its highest ever
cross country position. MAC also had 319 finishers across the season.
The Wild Night Run series event, Dark Skies, took place on the Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking in Surrey on Saturday, with MAC’s Heather Smith and Beryl Nyerere braving the elements at nightfall.
With head torches at the ready the runners set off in waves along footpaths, bridleways, forest paths and roads and, even with the help of marshals in high-vis vests and glow sticks, some runners still ended up getting lost and doing a few miles extra. Beryl finished in 1.06.57 to finish 76th out of 102 in the 10km while Heather was 61st out of 132 in a time of 1.38.41 for the 10mile.
Matt Snelling completed the 20km Maverick New Forest Trail Run and was content to finish this off-trail run in 1hr52mins.
While Matt opted for the longer course, Jen Francis and her friend Cath took on the 12k middle course.