Autumn must be on its way – although it rained during the day, the course was relatively dry for once, though the race was run in humid conditions. 111, and 2 guests, completed the attractive two lap course that Mike had designed around the Corbett’s estate. Matt was clearly stung by being beaten previously and set out to reclaim his title, finishing 25 seconds ahead of Jonathan Pugh (1st at Westhope) and Stacey (32.48). In all Croft had 5 runners in the top 20: Simon N (6th, 33.55), Dave Rouse (13th, 35.03), Dan (14th, 35.10), and Dave A (17th, 35.40), which together with Suzanne beating Lisa, meant the A team once again came first, but were narrowly beaten by Couriers in the overall placings. Jon and Dave G (welcome back!) were 22nd and 23rd with Gavin 26th, Neil P 32nd and Patrick 35th, given the same time as Suzanne (34th). Nearly a minute elapsed before Lisa crossed the line but no other runner had separated her from Patrick, ensuring Lisa was the women’s overall winner, by a narrow margin.Gary G was next in 38th, not quite catching Steve H on this occasion, then a longish gap till Steve (53rd) and Guy (55th), and then Tom (65th) and Daren (68th). Nicky (72nd) completed the B team, ahead of Neil T (and Nicola Goodwin). Frank (80th) just lost out on a sprint to the line, and grandad Dave R came in 84th. Rachel completed the C team, Kim the D team and Catherine the E team – we’ve never had so many!

So Croft A team were second overall, Stacey also 2nd, and Suzanne too. Nicky was 1st over 45 ( a feat, when she’s almost into the next category) and Guy 1st over 65 (out of 1 on the night).