Report by Guy
Three days after the event, and no race report might suggest the race took a lot out of us? Beforehand, some were apparently questioning the inclusion of this race in the club championship, and maybe when tackling the Callow for the second time, questioning was turning to mutinous (even murderous?) thoughts, but as each Croft runner descended to the finish, I’m sure they were all thankful to have finished, and grateful (?) to be able to say they’d done it.
23 Crofties turned up on an overcast, warm evening to tackle the last of the Shropshire summer fell races. The Ragleth Inn race is the shortest (4.8km), but involves the most climb (456m). With our dibbers strapped to our wrists we waited for the off on the lane behind the said inn. There was a sudden shout of ‘Go!’, and we had a flat 100m before the stream, a left turn climbing a bit to the next, smaller stream and then the real climb began, first on a gravelly path, and then on the hillside of the Callow. From the top we followed a sheep track down to a rising track skirting the Grindle, before a steepish and slippery descent into Callow Hollow and two stream crossings. Next came an undulating narrow sheep track, with a perilous drop to the left, down to the stream. As we tired of concentrating on keeping our footing, we were then offered a change – a wet stream crossing, and a very long, very demanding scramble up to the top of the Callow, again, where this time we had to dib our dibber before the final descent, finishing on the gravel path again and a final dib. 100m further on, we returned our dibbers, and had a print-out of our time.
As a club we provided almost 25% of the runners (but numbers have declined post pandemic), and 4 category winners (Steve [M40], Guy [M75], Jo M [W50] and Steph K [W55]), and all the W50 runners. Eric (9th) was our first runner home, Charlotte our first female (67th), with Nigel T 20th (3rd M55, in a very competitive category) and Andrew George 22nd (former member, and soon to rejoin). Kelly was a little behind Charlotte, and Emma (2nd W45) just a minute and half further back.
Tom and I escaped lynching after the race, while more moderate voices suggested perhaps a runnable fell race for next year’s club championship.
| Position | Croft Runner | Time | Age Category | Category Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Eric Apperley | 32.39 | Msen | 5 |
| 20 | Nigel Taylor | 35.01 | M55 | 3 |
| 36 | Sam Juson | 37.30 | Msen | 16 |
| 44 | Steve Partridge | 39.23 | M40 | 1 |
| 54 | Greg Jones | 42.04 | M50 | 3 |
| 63 | Dave Millichap | 42.59 | M50 | 6 |
| 65 | Lee Mardell | 44.59 | MSen | 21 |
| 67 | Charlotte Broadhurst | 45.2 | U19G | 4 |
| 70 | Kelly Bowen | 46.39 | WSen | 5 |
| 74 | Guy Whitmarsh | 46.54 | M75 | 1 |
| 79 | Emma Jones | 48.33 | W45 | 2 |
| 80 | Gary Gunner | 48.33 | M75 | 2 |
| 81 | Jo Marriott | 49.06 | W50 | 1 |
| 84 | Steph King | 50.12 | W55 | 1 |
| 88 | Thea Preece | 53.14 | WSen | 6 |
| 88 | Sam Harper | 53.51 | W45 | 3 |
| 91 | Roland Preece | 59.27 | M55 | 11 |
| 93 | Tom Davies | 1.02.19 | M70 | 2 |
| 94 | Huw Williams | 1.05.51 | M60 | 5 |
| 95 | Bronwyn Preece | 1.06.15 | WSen | 9 |
| 96 | Hayley Mollichap | 1.07.05 | W50 | 2 |
| 97 | Clare Preece | 1.11.07 | W50 | 3 |
| 98 | Theresa Jones | 1.12.18 | W50 | 4 |
