In between two sunny days it was a drizzly morning that saw more than 300 runners assemble at the Rural Life Centre for the fourth Southern Cross Country League event of the 2025-26 season.

The rain didn’t dampen spirits as the runners set off on the hilly, challenging route, with lots of surface mud.

Organised by Farnham Runners, the race director for the day was Chris Gill as Craig Tate-Grimes underwent training to become an official England Athletics race referee.

The course was carefully marked out. Many Farnham Runners members and relatives acted as marshals or took on other essential roles, while Richard Denby and Steve Bailey took the photos.

Refreshments for the runners after the race were organised by Julia Tagg and Linda Tyler, with help from Billy McCulloch, Bridget Naylor and Alison Buchanan on the day. Volunteers provided trays of sandwiches and cakes to accompany a hot drink.

James Goodwin calculated all the team results while Jane Georghiou later typed up the individual results.

The club’s efforts were rewarded with an excellent placing of second overall out of the 21 clubs taking part, with the men’s and ladies’ teams both ranking second.

The club’s two front runners, first lady Lizzie May and third man Joe Collins, had run ten miles before the race as part of their training for the London marathon.

Chris Carey (tenth), Alex Elsey (13th) and Matt Saker (21st) ran strongly for their fine team positions. For the ladies, Eloise Stradling (eighth), Gabi Hitchcock (17th) and Linda Tyler (24th), gave the team its high placing. Gemma Whitehouse finished 25th. In all, 47 Farnham Runners took part in the race.

Chris Matthews took on a different challenge. He was in Tokyo for his final Abbott World Major Six Star Marathon medal after previously running marathons in New York, Berlin, Boston, Chicago and London.

By Jane Georghiou