Here we go with another Midweek League season kicking off with what has been a traditional kickoff at St Albans. There was the familiar problem with parking but this year we couldn’t get enough takers for a coach which was such great addition to the evening last year. We had a total of 61 participants (40 men and 21 women) but it could and should have been so much better. In the morning my WhatsApp was hot with messages from those letting me know they couldn’t make it.

The guys, in spite of missing some long term injuries, had a good night and finished 2nd to a strong St Albans team on home territory. With 12 to score it is depth that really counts and that is where we scored bug. Our 12 scorers were Adam Bowman, Dougal Burrowes, Andy Naylor, Raul Simmons-Perez, Ed De Los Rios, Ben Allen, David Weir, Matt Petch Cooper, Joseph Kallow, Jim Arrowsmith, Dan Greenwood and Scott Aiken. There was a fair gap to winners St Albans but we were well ahead of Royston in 3rd. Our Vets team finished 3rd. It’s not often the main A team finish higher than the Vets which I think shows we are getting a few more younger runners out which is good news. The Vet team was Andy Naylor, Ed De Los Rios, Dave Weir, Jim Arrowsmith, Scott Aiken and Andy Roper. There were so many strong runs right through the 40 men who ran. I heard so many guys saying they had beaten their time from the previous year. You can’t ask for more than that.

The women had a less successful day and are less endoweed with runners who are going to score big at the sharp end. Having said that they all worked really hard to do the best they could. It was so impressive that they all worked so hard to get the best possible result they could. The sad thing is that they ended up 6th even after working so hard. We must do our best to get the strongest possible team out that we can muster. Our scoring team was Mahdiyyah Banoo, Beata Falkowska, Siobhan Weir, Cat Donnellan, Sue Thomas, Clare Murphy, Theodosia Green and Linda Green. Unlike the men the majority of this team are Vets with only Mahdiyyah to young to score for the Vets so the Vet scoring team was Beata, Siobhan, Cat and Sue. The Ladies Vet team also finished 6th. Come on girls please do your best to turn out and join these wonderful ladies.

It was a very pleasant evening for running and this course is nice in that it has plenty of shade and fairly flat. We had some help and a few supporters. Chris Prescott, Ian Kenwell and Margaret O’Donnell took on the task of dishing out the race numbers which was a big task, Ian also took the camera and took some great shots which can be viewed on the Club website Photo Gallery. David grindall and Paul Hart also took the opportunity to dish out Triffic Trail flyers.

These races come around thick and fast and the next race is the Royston Runners race which actually takes place in Buntingford on Wednesday 3rd June. It would be great, not to say very important, to have the best possible turnout.

Chas