Dean Lacy had not run for three weeks due to a cold but had promised to turn up in order to return the cup. But he did more than just turn up; his time of 45:15 was an improvement on that of the previous year and was easily good enough to ensure that he took the cup home with him.
James MacDonald and Christian Poulton took the silver and bronze medals and with the first three being backed up by Luke Ford in 6th place we won the team prize by a comfortable margin from second placed Central Park Athletic (12 points to 51).
There was home success in the Ladies race too; although only we only had three finishers the first of these was Emily Meins who was first female overall ahead of Becks Macey (Ashford & District) and Sally Kyle (now of CPA).
Back at the clubhouse we were pleased to play host to so many runners from other local clubs, an occasion made all the convivial by the opening of the bar for the first time at the Club 7.5, an event that Dean celebrated by downing a pint from the cup he had retained.
If you missed it, or even if you didn’t, in just two weeks we get to do it all again, plus an extra lap! The Club 10 is on the 11th January.