Goose Fair Gallop 10K

Autumn, as Keat's famous poem reminds us, is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Well can someone tell Kimberley and District Striders please because on the morning of their Goose Fair Gallop it absolutely persisted down. True the 15 hardy souls from Long Eaton Running Club were rewarded for their bravery (or should that be lunacy?) as the rain stopped about 2 minutes before the start of the race and held off until all were safely home. The Goose Fair Gallop has been around for many years and various courses and distances have been tackled, but this year it was a 10K trail race. The downhill start followed by the uphill run through Kimberley set the tone for this challenging race which quickly became muddy and slippery. The run through the "river" - a torrent of water running off the hillside and along the path before diving off into a field became a real talking point but no-one complained, in fact this route would be a thoroughly enjoyable run in slightly drier conditions.

First home for Long Eaton was Glen Coleman in 39:30 taking first V45 position, closely followed by Ian Chant and Phil Abbott. Having just returned the Men's Team trophy from last year Phil joined Glen and Ian to receive it again for 2008 although sharing the honours with Notts AC. In form Monica Fee led the ladies home followed by Caroline Waterhouse and Louise O'Reily, the three of them taking the ladies team prize. Caroline said afterwards - no I can't repeat here what she said about the wet, mud and cold. Needless to say she's looking forwards to the cross country season. Three LERC runners also took home spot prizes.

Ten Long Eaton men and 5 Long Eaton ladies completed the race. Glen Coleman (39:30), Ian Chant (40:02), Phil Abbott (41:07), Alan Maplethorpe (42:05), Rob Smith (45:12), Mark Goodson (46:56), Shaun Burton (49:55), Damien Cowlishaw (50:28), Ian Wallis (52:21) and Bob Crockford (64:12). Ladies were Monica Fee (43:05), Caroline Waterhouse (51:20), Louise O'Reily (51:40), Melanie Berry (52:55) and Kathy Crockford (62:13)


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