As is now traditional the senior men marked the end of the cross country season in the Hare & Billet (Blackheath). The Grand Prix trophy was awarded to Dean Lacy with Christian Poulton and Clem Dixon taking the silver and bronze medals. We also took the opportunity of presenting the Fell Running Grand Prix trophy (officially “The John Finlay Trophy” but more commonly known as “The Rock”) to Christian who has now won it three times in a row. Peter Hadley finally got his hands on a trophy for coming second in the over 70 age group in the Kent League.
It was another good season for the club with turnout continuing to be on the rise; we had 216 finishers across 15 races, up from 202 last season when there was one more race. Performance was more or less static as we finished 6th in both the Kent League (down from 5th) and the Kent Championships (up from 9th). We fared better in the twelve-to-score, with 4th in both the League and the Championships.
Why the Hare & Billet? Well it is half an hour’s walk from my house which may have something to do with it, but the minute books show that it was the venue for the inaugural meetings of Cambridge Harriers back in 1890. If our founding fathers had been given a glimpse into the future I wonder what they would have made of us lot?