In the absence of a formal prize Julie got a kiss from both Roy and Nick, enough to set any girl's Christmas alight. In all the traditional muttering and moaning about handicap times, no-one had seen Julie's as anything but fair, her win was entirely a result of good running. Amongst those moaning, believe it or not, was Damien but he added a second handicap by being on the toilet at his start time. The 'Valley Lodge Trail' is your actual time out on the course, Malcolm and Rob both finishing ahead of Damien.
A year ago this course was icy, dangerously icy, and, as late as Thursday, Styal Woods was deep mud, but a dry and unseasonally warm Christmas weekend produced near-perfect conditions on a course made interesting by the switch halfway from on to off road. Christmas clearly took its toll on one or two people but positions on the whole were in line with the Summer Series results. Sharon and Diane ran particularly well, Clare saw more of the woods than the rest of us.
Good running conditions meant the handicapping was more likely to be accurate and saw, in the middle of the field, over 30 club members home within 21/2 minutes. Given the high turn-out the idea, as it always is, of turning a summer Thursday training session into a handicap over the same course was again discussed, it may be worth returning to once we have the Summer Series programme.
Thanks to Dave, Paul and Nick for officiating. It was good to have Martin, Peter and Soraya's support out on the course, and, when I went past, also Nina's, as she nursed her knee.
Ian