Joan and I set off good and early as we had judged the race to be miles away, and it  would be likely that we would get lost in the depth of the alien countryside.

But no we arrived in very good time to find that most of the other ERRs had already arrived – I bet they had had the same misgivings as we had.

We definitely had stepped outside our usual area as there were no familiar faces or Witney runners! Instead there were the Vegetarian Cycling team lining up for a pre run photo shot and the Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers and many other strange persons.

It was a pretty course though no grass in the road (so not really rural) and fairly flat so why couldn’t I catch that lady with grey hair in the red outfit, I did try. The final lap round the rugby fields went on for ever and Tony spotted the tree root that sprung up out of the ground to trip me up as I finished.

It nearly didn’t rain so a dry run for some, PB for Kevin and a fast journey home, thank you Joan.