New Beechenhurst Forest of Dean
From Joan Hambleton and Hugh Holmes
Mud, mud, glorious mud, enjoyed enthusistically by the younger members of the Sarum contingent with senior members opting for mud camouflage. Our small group of runners remained cheerful in spite of the less than enjoyable conditions, spirits lifted by the arrival of the new Sarum jackets – think Christmas morning. It was lovely to see members sporting their new club jackets which attracted envy from several other clubs! If you would like to put your name down for one, please contact Hugh.
Although we didn’t manage to fill all the categories, Sarum achieved a creditable 6th position out of 12 in the Compass Sport Trophy event.
Thanks to Hugh for organising and entering the Sarum Team (and for playing Santa with the Jackets), to Mark for bringing, and taking home, the Club Tent and those who helped erect and dismantle it, to Ricky and Charlotte for their internal Club competition in which, amazingly, there is a category for everyone to win a chocolate bar!
It was a good opportunity to present the Ron Ley Trophy to Michael Cooke winner of the 2022/23 season Club Gallopen.
The club put in an excellent showing in what were incredibly wet and muddy conditions. The team of 23 hardy souls managed to spread themselves across most of the courses, with some excellent individual performances early on putting the Club in 2nd position for a time. Sadly we lacked the strength in depth to hold on and slowly settled into our final mid table position.
Well done to Swansea Bay OC for winning the CSC Trophy for the first time
However, to finish as 6th best small club in the country (and only 5 points off 5th) was a great achievement, particularly with a team depleted of many military and junior runners due to the unfortunate clash with Armistice Day.
Thanks to BOK for hosting the event. Full results are here.
Congratulations to those who scored for Sarum.
| Name | Class | Score |
| Michael James | 6 | 97 |
| Des Dickinson | 2 | 94 |
| Steve Beverley | 7 | 94 |
| Marc Balston | 4 | 93 |
| Joan Hambleton | 10 | 92 |
| Lizzie Balston | 9B | 92 |
| Ian Tait | 7 | 91 |
| Robert Elston | 1 | 90 |
| Charlotte Thornton | 10 | 90 |
| Kerry Corkery | 3 | 88 |
| Barnes Dickinson | 9A | 88 |
| Andrew Graham | 6 | 87 |
| Dan Gallagher | 2 | 86 |
A fun day was had by all, despite the weather and it was great to see smiling, if muddy, faces in the club tent, despite the uphill run in. The only downside was that we were, again, pipped by local rivals Wimborne. To ensure that this doesn’t happen again please put the date of next year’s qualifying heat in the diary Sun. 18th Feb, 2024.
Gallery photos by Ian Peirce and Ricky Thornton, Click to enlarge.
