Website update – and again it’s been months since last coming on here, during which time there’s been a couple of things happen like a few hashes, Christmas – oh, and the safe arrival of baby William Chaffey on 19^th January! The new year resolution is once again to get on this thing and update on a more regular basis so watch this space, but don’t hold your breath!

I write this with just a week to go until H5 100 – the 100^th running of the Ham Hill Hash, and I’ll be laying the course with the help of a Secret Hare; I’m trying to remember where the course of the inaugural hash went back in 2003 to see if we can recreate it! The Ham Hill Hash came out of a trip with Martin and Tracey Monaghan, Fred and Sue Fox and Steve Church to the Lundy Island Hash, and a cracking weekend later, we realised that this hashing lark was something that would fit in well with the Yeovil Town way of running – though we agreed that perhaps we would dispense with the “down downs” of the true hashers and simply incorporate a beer stop on each run instead. 

The hash names tradition has been upheld – I’m Mixy, due to an unfortunate habit of looking like a rabbit in the headlights, whilst the origins of fellow hash-originator Martin Monaghan’s “Major Clanger” moniker has nothing to do with that funny noise he makes! Many of the names are obvious – Phil “Fossil” MacQuaid, Pete “Hands On” Jakeman – whereas some, like Chris Hurrell’s “CB” or Fred Fox’s “Midflow” take a bit more explaining!

Watch this space for a report of the 100^th hash in due course – about June should do it!

PS have done a recce of the Hash 100 course this morning and it's wet & muddy; only fell over the once, and that was on a walking bit! 

 

 

There was a good turn out for the hash at the Mermaid Inn, Sherborne, with debutant hares Sue Hodges and Matt Blencowe being “helped” by Mixy Chaffey – which meant that the planned route was quickly diverted through the adventure playground; had to be done! Julie Green arrived newly married – so now Julie Biss – and Chris Hurrell turned up newly ginger, the result of allowing his daughter to practice her hair dying (shame he’s already got a hash name – “collar & cuffs” would have taken some explaining, but then again so does “CB”!)

The whole group of hashers were good enough to throw themselves into it, all going down the slide and over the balance beam and seesaw, before heading down Blackberry Lane and out of Sherborne. Sue had devised a cunning course out past the Cattery, thinking of a nice big hill to take them up, with a nasty little “fishhook” at the top – although the surprise element was lost as Jon Crane and Lee Holloway were miles ahead of everyone else and were at the top of the hill and back down to the group by the time the others had regrouped and so knew there was no real incentive to be in the first 5 to the top!

A jelly baby stop later and it was on towards Trent – apart from the two who missed the false trail cross and were nearly in Stallen before turning back – and then on to a beer stop overlooking Sherborne golf course (nice brown stuff in substitution of the normal blue stuff!). Matt Blencowe used hare’s privilege to bring his daughter, and Jess was told she’d be given extra points for beating “the old ladies” to the finish – Tina and Mel were not impressed! There was still time for a trip up through Crow Woods and another jelly baby stop before heading back to the Mermaid. No food available at the pub but it’s changing hands in a month so watch this space for future pub runs…  

Forthcoming Hashes

We now have hash dates in hand until the end of the year…

Sunday 20^th November – Ilchester Arms, Ilchester – Richard “Janus” Dodge leading

Sunday 18^th December – Drayton Inn, Drayton (between Langport and Curry Rivel), joint hash with Taunton – Mixy Chaffey

Saturday 31^st December – Fred & Sue’s annual New Year Eve’s hash (everyone excited at prospect of “left over biscuits and chocolate stop!”)

Watch out for H5 100 – January 2012!!

Preparing for the Parrett Trail is almost as much fun as the day itself (especially now I don’t have the “fun” of sorting the teams and the chasing round for replacements this year – well done Matt! (you have been!!)) and this year I offered my services as Reserve and to help others with recce runs whilst waiting for the call.

This led to a run with Jill Harrison one evening after work along Leg 3 – starting at the Boat just outside Bridgwater, heading along the tow path for a couple of miles and then inland to Burrow Mump and the finish at Oath Lock. Due to a misunderstanding, I though Jill had printed out the route – and she thought I knew where I was going! (the route has changed quite dramatically since I last ran it with Lynda – they don’t go anywhere near Pincombe Drove and Bridge any more). Still, the first half of the route is the same as before and the second half easy once you find the gate by the Pub – but with it getting darker, we were running through persistent rain at my race pace – Jill just ticking over, and helpfully telling me I could be quite good if I trained! – and all was well until the penultimate field when the herd of frisky cows who wanted to check Jill’s dog out, and decide to keep back stories of people being trampled until we were safely at the finish!

Now allocated to Leg 1, which again has been changed, I ran a recce run with Richard Dodge – putting the world to rights as we went round. Having committed the schoolboy error of wearing brand new shoes for a long run, I soon regretted that – so with Rich struggling with a chest infection picked up on the plane back from Oz (the at was the only thing picked up – despite the flight being full of single travellers, not one offered him the chance to join the Mile High Club!) and me dehydrated and blistered, we weren’t setting any records today! The nice bench on the river side is still there, albeit looking bit worse for wear now, so we had the traditional jelly baby stop and then carried on – we won’t be doing that come race day! As a continuation of the theme, we were then set on by a field of complete Bullocks – big nasty ones, which terrified me and so probably best that the likes of Karen Edwards weren’t with us!

(We actually carried on to Bridgwater Docks – Leg 2 runners, be aware that it’s just over 3 miles from the start of your leg to the Docks!).

Come race day, the blisters were still there, but the cows had gone! 27 runners had made their way to the start out at Steart, where it was cold but dry. The small car park was crowded, as a group of twitchers were also meeting there, somewhat bemused by the runners in various states of undress, and heaven alone knows what photos they got of the various toileting habits - watch out for David Attenborough's latest blockbusting series "Weeing in the Bushes", featuring Yeovil, Exmouth and Crewkerne runners!). The start is along a narrow track, and Pete Darton and Gareth Ashmead were amongst the leading group as we made our way on to the beach section - I thought I'd gone off too fast, as although I was holding up a lady from SWRR (who didn't even acknowledge me when I told her she was going the wrong way!), the next group including Richard Dodge and Annie Ashmead were about 100 yards behind me. It wasn't to last - after about a mile and a half (and the burst of energy brought on by my London Marathon ringtone going off in my bum bag as my welsh friends were sending me score updates!) I was quickly reeled in by Rich and a group of three others - although the two Maiden Newton runners went for a team wee and I briefly took their places back. The blisters reared their ugly head before reached Combwich and both Jane from Wells and Crewkerne's Sarah Warren went past as I needed to stop and stretch out. Unfortunately none of the others got lost in the middle of Combwich [home to the house with the tower I will buy if I ever win the lottery!) and so I was destined to trail in behind the others - I did keep ahead of the chap from Wells who was as knackered as me, and the last three miles were a combination of walk-running and stile-climbing, with a fall into a hole and hurting feet chucked in for good measure. Richard had already finished (Gareth and Pete having done so a long time before and already had a lift to the start to collect Gareth's car), and Annie ran well to finish a few minutes behind me. Still, all 5 of us finished well, completing the 9.1 mile course and none of us got lost - at least not whilst on foot (don't mention meetin up in cars afterwards - as they say, what happens in Bridgwater, stays in Bridgwater!) 

 

Ok, I've left this slide again and need to deal with a quarter of the year in one go! The running side of life has rather taken a step back as I've returned to work and Lynda is expecting again; after bombing back from Exeter or Taunton, there's rarely the time to go running, and the weekends have been busy too.

There have been flashes mind - the Blackdown Beauty was a good day out, as were the annual Race for Life marshalling stint, whilst the monthly hashes have been well received (though still need to get some more hashers interested in actually laying the things!). The Chaffey family had their two first ventures out in race gear at the Runway Dash in Yeovilton, where Ellen's running buggy was nearly blown back to Yeovil by the downdraft of the starter's helicopter, and at teh Mendip Mashup where flag 6 was named "Chaffey Time" in my honour!

The Blackdown Beauty was a good event, albeit quite low key and only half of the runners made the effort to get the Circus themed fancy dress - needless to say I was in full Clown get up, and the face paint stayed in place until after I'd arrived at Mother in Law's in the evening! It was about 16 miles and 5 pubs on the way round but really needed a few more team mates to make it a really good day out; we'll look at the Midsummer Dream again next year I think.

We had hashes at Thornford (where Lynda was able to run the first half and then collect Ellen from me at the Wyke beer stop), the Red House down to the Obelisk  and then the Quiksilver Mail - where "Dennis" stole the show!

Will try to update this more often from now on - but have said that before! 

And now, the end is near and so I face the final curtain… or at least the final Sunday e-mail of my tenure as Secretary of the Yeovil Town Road Running Club.

In absence of any volunteers for the Sunday e-mail, these will now cease (I am still willing to help any of you who are willing to take on this role, or the preparation of press releases). In the absence of a weekly e-mail, do look at the website – this will be the first point of call for all breaking news and Nigel does a cracking job in keeping it up to date. Nigel would be grateful if information could be sent to him rather than having to search for stuff, so if there is anything that you want putting on the website, do send him the text. Similarly I will no longer be doing press releases on a weekly basis so send your results instead to Nigel – preferably with a link to race website for results and details of the other Yeovil runners taking part (not all runners are necessarily shown as Yeovil, so do tell him if there are others).

Deb Neal is taking the Membership Secretary role on and I have passed her the renewal forms that I have already received. Please do tell Deb (or me by replying to this e-mail) if you are not wanting to rejoin as this will save her chasing you!

 

The new Membership forms are on the website and we ask for all members to complete a form this year so that Deb can make sure all of your information is correctly held.

 

It is the AGM on Tuesday night – after a 5km Chairman’s Handicap run over the same course as the 5km the other night. Please do come along to the meeting, which takes place in the Football Club – with sausage and chips provided. The Committee will be elected on the night and there is always room for more willing volunteers to help out! In seriousness, it is an opportunity for you to have a say in how the Club runs and what can be done in the coming year.

 

........

Please bear with me here, as I am going to bring my last Sunday mail to an end with a bit of reminiscence.

Having joined the Club in 1998, I joined a fledgling committee as Secretary the following year when the previous committee stood down en masse and the future of the Club was in some doubt. Our new committee included Phil MacQuaid, who is remaining on the committee, and others such as Pete Darton and Dee Worth who are still with the Club, and our new broom decided to change the way the Club worked. With membership down to as low as 25 members back then, I think we have done a pretty good job over the years – the Club membership list handed to Deb last week listed 285 members and several more have sent in their forms ready to join in the new Club year.

We have gone from a good running club to an excellent Club – the running is also important, but I think you will agree that it is not the be all and end all! If you have not been to France with the Argentan trip yet, or joined a pub run such as the Midsummer Dream or the Blackdown Beauty (watch out for that one coming up!), then do go – likewise come on the Thursday night pub runs for a bit more of a social run in a different place each week. On the racing side, we have forged a good reputation, with the other Clubs who can only look on with envy when we have a team of 20 or 30 runners turn up for an event like the Monty or the Forde Abbey 10km. I know it may be petty, but I love it when there are Western Gazette photos of a race where there are 4 or 5 Wells runners, 4 or 5 Crewkerne runners .. and 25 Yeovil! It has been good to encourage as many of our members to take part in races as possible – I know from experience that we’re not all racing snakes at the front of the field, but again this Club is good in that we may have a couple of runners in the first 10, a couple of runners in the last 10 – but there are no egos here and we’ll all go a beer together afterwards (or fish & chips – Egdon Easy is 28^th May and look out for the Maiden Castle Loop!)

Club nights have gone from strength to strength and whilst this brings with it its own problems, it’s a nice problem to have – how to organise groups that accommodate everyone when 60 runners turn up on a Tuesday; when I joined, there was one group, and it was a case of trying to keep up! Something we as a club pride ourselves on is not leaving anyone behind. However, to keep things going, it does need more people to put their hand up and help by leading groups – there are several of us who are willing to mentor Run Leaders to help give the confidence to take a group on (as I have proved over the years, knowing where you are going or the ability to read a map are desirable but not essential qualities to have! All you need is a bit of confidence to take the group where you want to go!). Phil is doing a cracking job organising run groups but needs volunteer leaders each week. (I understand that about 25 people went to the Run Leaders meeting but not many of them have gone on to become run leaders on a  Tuesday – if there is anything I can do to help sway you into doing so, please have a word with me on the run one night…)

 

The Club’s own events have a good reputation and this is in no small part to the help given by all of the members – it’s good to know that we’ll have enough people offer to marshal at the race days. The Committee will be looking for race directors or helpers for organising next year’s races – as well as things like getting sponsorship – so do offer to give any help that you can; many hands make light work!

 

If you’ve not got bored by now, and you are still reading this e-mail, this should imply that you are  computer literate – if you do a run, perhaps think of sending Matt Driver a report for the newsletter and your results to Nigel for the website. As mentioned at the start of this e-mail, there are still openings for a press release officer – ever wanted to see your name in print in the Western Gazette? You write it, you can give your own performance whatever positive spin you want to! The Club has had a good presence in the local press over the years and it would be good for that to continue – if not a report, then do send photos to Nigel and the press so that the Green and White continues to feature – likewise you can put your own photos on to the Club website (I sent the upload details back along and these are available from Nigel or me).

 

I have already started to collate the Christmas Photos for the Christmas meal so you can also send any good photos to me – otherwise you’ll be stuck with those taken by me and Rich Dodge!

Over the years, I have worked on the committee with some cracking people and the current crop of committee members are excellent and some of the ideas discussed at last week’s meeting for things the Club can do sounded really exciting – but please remember that it is your Club and if there is any way in which you can help out, the committee will be more than happy to hear from you! If you fancy having a go at leading a pub run or organising a team to go to a race, then let them know. Likewise I know that Nick is keen for people to suggest different run sessions – I will be setting a hash run on the Club night next week (17^th May) to run alongside the usual Club groups and would be grateful if one or two of you would come on that!

I’ll sign off by thanking all of my friends in the Club for their help and support whilst I have been Secretary – I shall miss my evening computer sessions reading through the race results and e-mails to collate the press releases and Sunday e-mails, but am sure that I’ll find something else to do when the Strictly Come Dancing starts up again!

 

See you all at the Club on Tuesday – and of course when you all come marshalling on Wednesday at the 5km!!

 

Martin

In addition, there was a final send off e-mail to the local press: 

Please find attached the Yeovil Town Road Running Club press release. Whilst I have been sending you press releases on behalf of the Club for the past twelve years, I am actually stepping down as Club Secretary at the Club AGM and so you will be receiving information from someone else in the future – once I’ve found a willing “volunteer”! (having said that, I will continue preparing reports on the Club’s own races until such time as a replacement is found).

 Can I just thank you on behalf of the Club for printing the releases during my tenure – it is very much appreciated and many of the members that we now have mention that the local press coverage of the Club’s activities is what attracted them to the Club.

In the absence of the weekly press releases, if you ever want any details about the Club or articles on running generally, please do contact me – the local running scene is a vibrant one and all the local clubs are reporting large increases in numbers (Yeovil Town has increased from 105 members in 2006 to 140 in 2008, and then up to 214 in 2010 to its current membership of just under 300 members!) and every week there are races organised across the region that do not get perhaps the recognition that they perhaps deserve (and, dare I say it, perhaps not the coverage it would get if 300 footballers were turning out somewhere!). I know for instance that there are still places available for the Ninesprings races on 12^th June if you fancied running round for research purposes…!

 (Actually on that point, the Club has a beginner group which would make a good story, and we also organise Hash runs that would be suitable for any journalist who can run (even only a little) a bit – they are gentle, fun affairs of about 4 miles, with a jelly baby and beer stop on the way round! Let me know if you have anyone that might fancy joining us – or whether an article on either would be considered).

 Many thanks again.

Martin Chaffey

Another month has gone by and the intended regular updates have still not materialised as I have found more important things to worry about! It has been a bit full on with job hunting, cuddling Ellen and preparing for the handover of secretarial duties at the Club AGM. It was all quite emotional and I will put my ultimate Sunday e-mail on this site for posterity!

There was time for a bit of running in between times, starting with the Johnny Kipps race out at Wynford Eagle. There were record numbers taking part – still not 30, and a little disappointing that so few of the Club made it to what is a free race. There was a cracking victory overall for Lin Lascelles – the first time the fabled biscuit tin has been won by a lady – and obviously this was simply warming up for further success as she became Californian State Champion at the Avenue of the Giants – a date with the outgoing Governor was, luckily, the winner’s prize! It was interesting to see a proper racer in full flow – Phil MacQuaid became a completely different animal under race conditions, not talking and every sinew stretched to near bursting point on the way round – he even restrained himself by resisting the young lady marshal in the “I love Hugs” T-shirt!

April is always busy with the Club’s own races, and this year a late Easter meant that the 5km took place first, with 150 runners making their way out to the start. It was a good race and again showed the benefit of having a good club membership who all know what they are doing so that things went smoothly (even if there was a little explosion half way through from the direction of the chaps on the computer who didn’t know how to enter the results!). The following week was the big event of the year – no, not the London Marathon but rather it was Ellen’s Christening in Devon! (our Club runners did really well, with Rose Harvey’s run resembling an edition of Heat magazine with the number of celebrities (I use the word lightly) that she met, and Chris Burton just missed out on a World Record by being pipped to the line by James T Kirk!).

I assisted Terry Byrne with the annual Natterjack Inn pub run and an assault up Lamyatt Hill – which was fine, as all of the runners realised it was his fault this year, not mine! After last year’s heavy rain, the weather conditions were lovely – though the views were obscured by heat haze this time; there’s no pleasing some people!

We had the traditional Easter Sunday hash out at Lytes Cary again – which had the advantage that I could re-hash (pardon the pun) the course of 2 or 3 years ago, safe in the knowledge that few of those who ran before would be there, and as I struggled to remember it, so would any that had! We had a good turn out on a hot day, and all seemed to enjoy the hot cross bun stop and the beers atop Kingsdon Hill!

It was also very hot at the Easter Bunny on 25^th April – worryingly so, and we came very close to a first tragedy – mind you, if you are going to collapse, it’s best to do so in front of a retired surgeon, and then be treated by the Club’s paramedic and later by Club member in A&E!). The race was won by Ben Tickner in 30m02 – so just avoided having to pay the £50 prize (and we won’t talk about the rush round when discovered “someone” hadn’t bought the team prizes or extra Eggs for the second placed Vets!).

I ended the month by making an effort to up the mileage and hopefully lose a bit of weight – but ended up overdoing things and crocked as a result. The Club Handicap on Tuesday 26^th followed the Bunny and this went well – running round with Janine, for whom I badly guessed a handicap time and as a result was concerned that she would be finishing last; she did really well and ran a lot faster than many of the others and will be fine when Adam’s left in charge of setting the handicap for her! I followed that up with two days of “exploring” (note, you can never be truly lost when you can still see Yeovil!) and after running out to George’s Tree, found a nice route back through to Yeovil Junction – and then spent an hour walking around the river to find the bridge – that is actually about 50 yards from where you enter the field and which I missed in exactly the same way as all that time ago with Mike Regan and Lisa Andrews (didn’t have to cross the river giving anyone a piggy back this time – and also missed out on running through slurry!). The following day I went “exploring” again and found a path that ends up at the Obelisk folly on Barwick park – as I went through the woods, I kept thinking that the obelisk must be off to my left somewhere, only to turn round and find that it was about 6 feet behind me!! After 8 miles, enough was enough, but gives a few more options for future hash runs (found a couple of nice places for beer stops, but might need the nettles to die down before we go there!).

The month ended with some wedding or other – Wills and Kate, was it? – and Deb Neal organised a pub run to take us away from it all, nicknamed the Right Royal Romp – 14 miles, 3 pubs. Again we had a good number of people turning up and everyone embraced the spirit of the thing by donning patriotic fancy dress; I settled for St George’s Day shorts and Prince Charles ears! I thought of the Royal Family and took two punnets of fruit with me to the start so that we could all begin with a plum in our mouths (again everyone entered into the spirit of things!).

The course took in Tintinhull – although en route there was a split off by a group of four to the Carpenters Arms at Chilthorne (for mixed intentions – Sian and Mel wanted to see “the” dress as Kate arrived at the church – Fred and I hoped to get a cheeky extra pint in! Whilst the pub was closed, they let us in to watch the TV – but not serve us!) – and the first official (royal themed) pub was the Crown & Victoria. Deb brought out the hot cross buns and sweeties to accompany the first beer of the day. Photographic evidence showed that elsewhere the Chairman and his wife were with us in spirit by having strawberries and cream….

Pub number 2 was the Prince of Wales atop Ham Hill and there was an interesting run across the fields to the Cartgate – unfortunately I injured my ankle by taking a photo; jumping into a field over a potato ridge and tweaking it by a poor landing! (was a good photo, though!) and this was to make the remaining 8 miles interesting (and wouldn’t run for the next week). On the way we went on a footpath that goes right through someone’s garden (I wouldn’t want to live right next to Cartgate roundabout) and then over a bridge that was infested by a nasty looking troll (photos available) and then on to Stoke.  A bit of elopement from Kate and her Father in Law followed and then we all climbed up past the Pinnacle and were joined by Adam Hawkins – had he got his wedding fix before meeting us?! At the Prince of Wales they were serving a number of themed beers – whilst others enjoyed “Royal Celebration”, I had a pint of “Kate Loves Willy”! Luckily they weren’t serving the very nice dark lager so there was no incentive simply to settle in for the day and miss the whole Wedding thing, and so instead we cracked on, and here the group split into two for those who wanted to take in the sights of Tinker’s Bubble and those of us who didn’t – we had the sight of Hazel Ford, resplendent in her wedding dress, leading the group around the ramparts of Whitcombe Valley (I will be sending that to Runner’s World as a suggestion for Rave Run as we discussed!). Meeting at the King’s Arms in Montacute for a final beer of the day, we tried everything to work a way to get another one in – the “Prince” Phelip’s Arms was closed and we couldn’t think of anything remotely tenuously royal in “Mason’s Arms” to justify a diversion to Odcombe – so we enjoyed the run back to Yeovil, ready to thank Deb Neal for organising the day – and to join Lynda and her Mother for the final 10 hours of Royal Wedding coverage!!

Spring approacheth and March came with a bang, as the new Great Western 10km took shape. A variety of reasons may be behind the lower than expected numbers but the course was enjoyed more than expected. The recce run on the week before the race turned out to be Pete Jakeman’s swansong before a spell of enforced recovery when he got well and truly plastered. The race itself went well – no fallings out with anyone, and a field of 135 justifying the event, and with the positive feedback, looks like we’ll be back next year. A day after the Great Western saw the next hash – laid by the Vaseline Queen and newly named Lackov, out of the Lamb & Lark at Limington – see the Reports section.

 After the disastrous tsunami in Japan, the Club joined the international Run for Japan campaign organised by Martin Yelling – it was good to contribute, with 347 miles dedicated to the cause and a sum of £150 donated.

 March also saw difficult times in personal life and a change of circumstances at home, but we’ll keep this light and stick to the running..

 There was a return to racing on Saturday 26^th, with the Nightrunner event held at Beer. A small turn out from Yeovil saw only Martin & Lin Lascelles, in colours of Maiden Newton, Andy Goodman in Doddlers blue and Richard Dodge running with me. It’s a nice run although the start had been moved so the first thing was a drag up the big hill to Beer Head – so you’re knackered from the word go! Running round the lanes in the dark is good fun, and we dropped down through the woods to the disappointment of finding the ice cream shop at Branscombe was closed. There was the long stretch across the beach – quite awesome with the torches switched off (and also helped not to see how far it was to the Stairway to Heaven!).

 Race day dawned for the new Yeovil Half Marathon, and 750 entrants ended up with nearly 700 runners making their way to the start line at Huish Park, amongst them over 70 Club members – including Chris “Sportacus” Burton on his way to a World Record bid for fastest half marathon dressed as a TV character. All seemed to go well and the lack of road closures, a concern before the event, did not detract, and all completed the event successfully.

 The clocks have now gone forward – Spring is here, and we’ve had the first runs in the lighter evenings. My group on Tuesday had the traditional run up to Jack the Treacle Eater – none seemed inspired to try running to London on the strength of a tin of treacle! I then joined the South Molton Strugglers on Wednesday evening for a run round the Molton lanes, getting ready for April running – and the hope of more frequent updates of this site!

Great Western photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/yeoviltownrrc01/GreatWestern10km#

Lamb & Lark hash photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/yeoviltownrrc01/LambLarkHash13032011#

Yeovil Half photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/yeoviltownrrc01/YeovilHalfMarathon#

February came, and we were into the start of the Club’s racing season with the Inca Trail on 13^th February. The recce run on the preceding weekend wasn’t quite as popular as previous years – just me, Richard, Kat and dog! Come race weekend and it was a weekend of two halves – course laying on Saturday was in glorious weather, with a convivial atmosphere and the course was quickly set out before lunch at the Dolphin; all very pleasant. Sunday came, and the weather gods had obviously had a rough night and decided to take it out on us! The 7am run round the course was bad enough – stinging wind and blattering rain making progress around the route tough going (so bad that the jelly baby stop had to wait until the bottom of Knowle Hill as it was too windy on the top!), and the fear was that all of the 50 pre-entries would take the safer option of staying in bed and that we’d have only a handful of entries; in the event, there were about 70 entrants so worth doing, but honestly can’t remember the last time I got as cold and wet as the hour and half time recording at the finish line.

 A week later and it was off to Tintinhull for the first hash laid by Sadie and Hazel; first thing – tell Sadie where Tintinhull is! Good run and report is on the Hash Report section.

February came to a close with a recce run of the new Yeovil Half Marathon course, and an intrepid group setting off from Yeovil Football Club to replicate the conditions likely to be experienced in a month’s time. A good route round familiar roads, making it feel like an extended Club run and although a few dropped out along the way, most made their way to the finish successfully and all boded well for the event at the end of March.

Tintinhull hash photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/yeoviltownrrc01/TintinhullHashFebruary2011#

January started with a bang,with the Red House Hash on 2^nd January. Lynda and I experienced a new phenomenon – Chaffey Time is well known, but we now have “Ellen Chaffey Time”, being the additional half hour you need to allow for getting small child parcelled up and delivered the grandparents, meaning that you end up late for the hash and have to catch them up! Luckily Sue Fox waited for us and we were treated to a view of her (tur)nips across the field before a quick trot round the Cokers and a mulled wine stop in the woods – and the chance to help the Foxes out by eating up their chocolates and biscuits before the New Year diets started.

 Debbie’s Long training run group started their weekly long runs from Goldenstones and these have gone from strength to strength. I attended the one on the 23^rd January, for photographic purposes and the group was taken for a nice route out to Mudford and around the back roads; it was the first time I had run 10 miles for months!

The month ended with another hash, this time at Griffin’s Head in Nether Compton, laid by myself and Lee Holloway – there’s a report on this in the Hash reports section.

Red House hash photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/yeoviltownrrc01/RedHouseHash#

Apologies for the delay in updating this site – I know that you have all been waiting with bated breath for the latest instalment! Time has flown – Ellen is now 6 months old and utterly gorgeous, and is watching me from her favourite playmat as I type this. She’s reminding me of the running that has taken place in the intervening period and her memory’s not that good yet (and most of the suggestions revolve around milk and nappy changes) so excuse the brevity of the following “monthly updates”.

Having last added to this blog in October, I’ll skip November altogether partly because the month flew past but mostly because I can’t remember anything done in it; most of my memories also consist of making milk and changing nappies at that time!*

December  saw the inaugural Santa Dash taking place in Yeovil Country Park, which saw 100 runners charging about all dressed as Father Christmas – apart from Lynda who was a very attractive Mother Christmas and Ellen stole the show as the cutest baby Santa! It was a successful event and has raised nearly £2,000 for the Hospice, and so one to repeat.

There was snow at Christmas which made for interesting running – the Santas were out in force again, this time for the annual Phil MacQuaid Christmas Day run, and the fantastic champers and canapes put on by the Brammers; I struggled up the lane from Thorne Coffin but it had nothing to do with the ice! There was a good family walk around Bradford Abbas with the re-emergence of Steve Pattemore – and before you know it, that was 2010 done and dusted!

* This is only wet nappies; I only did my first poo nappy in March, and was actually sick!

 

Santa Dash photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/yeoviltownrrc01/SantaDashYeovil#

Christmas Day photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/yeoviltownrrc01/ChristmasDayInTheSnow#