In the end we finished third in this year's M40 8 Stage, and the girls were second in the W45, not as successful as the last four years (for the men), but the the team had hoped rather than expected a medal, so it was a good result. Herne Hill won the M40 title, they had a strong squad out and it was a well deserved victory.

Winning comes down to having six or seven runners under 16mins and with Rob, Dan and Clive injured it was always going to be a struggle. Luckily Rob Goutcher and Jon Goodland joined and gave us a chance, they both ran very well on the day, but for sure none of the other teams could lose the talent of Rob and hope to win a medal.

Even after the first few stages it was clear that Herne Hill had a strong squad this year, and they went into the lead in the middle of the race and always just looked favourites. Gordon Lee got Leicester into second place on leg 5, but they were still about a minute down on the lead. Jerry (16.47) started for us, followed by Andrew H (16.08), Alec (15.26) and Martin (15.22) so you can see from the times we all gave it a go, and Martin moved us up to 4th. It wasn't looking good enough for victory though, we seemed to be battling with Sunderland, Thames and Salford rather than making much impression on HHH.

Rob (16.26) kept us in the battle, a great effort for somebody who's not as used to the circuit as Mick, Martin and myself, and that allowed me to easily get into fourth, and as Salford had a weaker leg it wasn't too difficult to get into third near the dog-leg section, but try as I could, I couldn't make much of an impression on the gap to Leicester. By the end I could see the gap gradually reducing but it was just too big. Looking at the times I was only 5s slower than Iain L. but he was so far ahead I only saw him at the turn. (I was also 11s slower than M45 Brian Rushworth, so I think I need a bit more training yet!)

Jon (16.44) and Mick (15.28) gave it everything, and Mick finally got us back into the medals, about 20 secs ahead of Sunderland in fourth. ...and for the neutrals you have to say Herne Hill deserved the title, we were a little bit lucky wining by so far last year, and they deserved a little bit of luck this year. (It's also perhaps a sobering though that, over the season, 42 year old Iain is clearly faster than the 45s; Keith, and Dan, Clive and myself these days.)

Ali, Sian and Nicky B. meanwhile were getting the women's side of the club into much better masters relay shape, winning silver medals. A great effort, especially as Ali is primarily a track runner, and Sian's not back up go full speed yet, although she's improving rapidly now. NIcky is clearly a talent, and doubtless will be central to their plans in the future. Reading were always going to be strong enough to win, Sarah Gee running a minute faster than all of our girls.

...and when I've got a bit more spare time I'll write about Helen and Dave's do - congratulations and best wishes to them.