Edwinstowe is in the county of Nottinghamshire and was the home of the legendary Robin Hood. It is an ideal location to explore Sherwood Forest with the famous Major Oak.

This year was the 8th running of the race through Sherwood Forest Country Park and the race was sold out by September with 600 runners having entered. The race HQ was at the Robin Hood Craft Centre in Edwinstowe on the edge of the forest and around the corner from St Mary’s Church where according to legend Robin Hood and Maid Marion were married.
The race crisscrosses the forest which took in the Robin Hood Way. It was run over an accurately measured traffic free undulating footpaths and bridleways starting and finishing on a grassed area adjacent to Edwinstowe Cricket Pitch.
The weather was warm 13C and still quite breezy following the aftermath of storm “Desmond” the previous day and the sun shone throughout the race.

As already mentioned, at the start, we ran approx 800 yards on a field then started to climb into the forest for about 1 mile. The track was not very wide, so with hindsight a fast start on the field would have been beneficial as it took some time to overtake the slower runners. The route crisscrossed numerous paths, some wide, some narrow with the occasional muddy areas, but overall the tracks were well maintained and off road shoes were the order of the day. The race was chip timed and good to get an accurate time especially on a trail race, as from experience very few trail races have chip timing. Also, met former club runner Gemma Butterfield who had entered and I managed to keep her behind me throughout the race.
Overall, I was pleased with my chip time of 52:14 (4 mins slower than my last 10k road race) and finished 172/501. Unfortunately, there was no M65 age group prizes so was put in M60-70 group and finished 5/23.
Margie finished in 66:50 but did not race as she just wanted to run a trail race.
The winners time was 37:07 but was 25 years younger than me!!!
All finishers received a technical tee shirt, lucozade sport and water. Chocolate biscuits were also available on the finish line but no jammy dodgers!! Good value for money as entry fee £12.00.
Mick Hall was also at the race as the official photographer.

This was my final race in a different county each month this year and have travelled over 2300 miles to the following counties :
Jan. – Llandudno 10k, Gwynedd Wales
Feb. – Alsager 5m, Cheshire
March. – Stafford Half, Staffordshire
April. – Bungay Half, Suffolk
May. – Market Drayton 10k, Shropshire
June – Kingham 12k, Oxfordshire
July – Bewl Water 15m, East Sussex
Aug. – Kimbolton Half, Cambridgeshire
Sept. – New Forest Half, Hampshire
Oct – Tissington Trail Half, Derbyshire
Nov – Chorley 10k, Lancashire
Dec – Edwinstowe 10k, Nottinghamshire
I have thoroughly enjoyed all these races and would recommend them all.
Richard Shaw.

I and other Stone Master Marathoners headed up to Cheddleton on Saturday lunchtime for the annual 10k pudding run. Some including myself were lucky enough to be chauffeur driven courtesy of Nick who was behind the wheel. The temperature plummeted as we headed north to the Staffordshire Moorlands with wind and rain adding to the chill factor- this was going to be a race to remember !!

On arrival Nick ,Julie ,Anne-Marie and I met up with fellow members & partners; Linda, Paula, Tom, Hazel, Kevin, Kevin’s wife, Joyce, John and not forgetting Smm’s Cheddleton resident Roger. With such a great team of runners and supporters what could possibly go wrong!

Following the fun run completed by Hazel we assembled in a orderly fashion for a last minute team photo shoot organised by Tom with Mick Hall a great opportunity to again capture the new kit.

At 2pm sharp we set off and were soon greeted by the sound of the lone piper after our first climb out of the village which in the wind and rain became quite motivating. It was just after this point I was overtaken by Nick so it was clearly working for some.

Lap two soon came round and I was joined by Tom who caught me up on bag pipe hill. I understand this was Toms first race following long term injury and he was going well !

Throughout the race I kept Nick in my sight but clearly his new Hoka running shoes were doing their job and I was unable to gain ground.

It wasn’t long before the final lap came round and we found ourselves racing down to the finish in the old village centre to collect our Christmas Puddings 🙂

The early finisher’s went to cheer their colleagues on with great commentary provided by the race organisers adding to the occasion. Julie had a mention for one of the last runners in under the hour with Joyce seconds behind.

The school hall afterwards provided a warm sanctuary from the inclement weather with tea and cakes most welcome. Knowing that monies raised from the event was going towards Cancer Research added to the most enjoyable day and the second brilliant Smm event in less than 24 hours !! Highly recommended 🙂

Scores on the doors

Kevin Uzzell 47 minutes
Nick Boulton 51 minutes 28 secs
Chris Ellerton 52minutes 28 secs
Tom Johnson 53 minutes 7 secs
Anne-Marie Mountford 53 minutes 33 secs
Julie Boulton 59 minutes 47 secs
Joyce Edwards 59 minutes 53 secs
Linda Cartwright 1 hour 1minute 3 secs
Paula Furnival 1 hour 1 minute 33 secs

Cheers

Chris Ellerton

I chose to run this race in Lancashire when planning my programme to race in a different county each month this year.

Last year the race was resurrected after an absence of 20 years and there were 141 finishers including four ladies I run with locally who had told me how much they had enjoyed the event. This year the race was very well supported with 409 finishers (a threefold increase in 12 months) and the number of female entrants exceeded the total finishers last year. I assume the attraction was the athletic built male runners or could it be all those Firefighters? The race started at 10.00am from the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Training Centre on the outskirts of Chorley.

An ideal race HQ as there was ample car parking spaces and canteen facilities for all runners and supporters. The course was described as a two lap undulating country route around the villages of Euxton and Astley. The start and finish was in the grounds of the Training Centre. The first mile took us down the long drive to the main Southport Road turning us left up a gradual climb towards Chorley. The route then turned left after approx three quarters of a mile towards Euxton where we ran on a wide footpath which incorporated a cycle path parallel with the main road. We then turned left at approx 1.5 miles down a very quiet country lane and just after the two mile marker there was a short steep hill prior to reaching Astley.

The route turned right into the village and left back onto the Southport Road to return to the fire centre. This loop was repeated with the finish some 300 yards beyond the start of the race in the grounds of the training centre. All finishers received a medal and bottle of water. Entry Fee was £12 (Affiliated). All profits went to firefighters charity to support the families of those who have been injured or tragically killed in their line of duty. A very worthwhile cause. Unfortunately, the race was not chip timed, my Garmin showed a finish time of 48:10 against the official time of 48:19. Maybe I should have started on the front line!! However, the latter is still a seasonal best. It must have been wearing that new club vest !! I finished 162/409 runners and 3rd in my age group although only 15 seconds between me and 1st over 65 age group. The second finisher in my group was a John Shaw (no relation) who just beat me by 4 seconds.

After the race all runners and supporters were able to purchase Lancashire Hot Pot and Mushy Peas for a very reasonable price of £2:50 served by the firefighters in their canteen. This was a welcome addition especially as the race was run in a temperature of 3C and proved very popular with everyone including Margie and myself and I actually paid for us both !!! Overall a very well organised race which is beginning to attract a good field. Margie decided not to enter the race but enjoyed her weekend away at the Tickled Trout Hotel some 8 miles from race HQ. Later after returning to the Hotel, at approximately 10.00pm, blue flashing lights alerted us to two fire engines below our window. Apparently it was a false alarm. Margie and I thought they were bringing me my finisher’s medal as there was a shortage due to the increased numbers!
Richard Shaw