Woodstock 12 Report by Kate Daniels
12 ERR’s headed to Blenheim Palace for the postponed Woodstock 12.
Postponed due to storm Amy which meant that Dogfest at Blenheim no longer clashed and the
course was their usual 3 lap undulating course. It was also moved to a Sunday so no
clash with parkrun (yay!).
There was some cold rain as we arrived which added to Rhea’s enthusiasm! But
luckily it stopped in plenty of time for the start and conditions for the race were good.
I first did this race 10 years ago in 2015, checking the results from that year, the only
ERR there in 2015 and running again in 2025 was Graham Bridges, well done
Graham. I returned in 2016, 2017 and 2018, in 2018 I had a great run and knocked 4
minutes off my previous best time and had been too scared to return until this year!
It is a lovely low key race in beautiful surroundings, and this year we had the added
bonus of Christmas music as we ran near the palace! It tends to attract lower
numbers than most of the other GP races, which I think gives it a nicer more friendly
vibe. We received a Tap Social beer at the end, which was great, but I did miss the
lovely Mythakulon T-shirts previously given as a race momento.
ERR received a few age category prizes, congratulations to Robert Storey, John
Rowland, Katherine Bates, Kate Daniels and Helen Byrne, who has just joined the
club so didn’t run under ERR but was 2 nd VL55.
This was also a County Championship long course race, Kate Daniels was 1 st FV40,
Katherine Bates 3 rd FV60, Robert Storey 1 st MV60, John Rowland 2 nd MV60. The
men’s team were 3 rd and the women’s team 2 nd .
Great running everyone over what is quite a challenging course (but don’t let that put
you off, it is manageable, more undulating rather than hilly and has a lovely smooth
surface, unlike XC!).
