Bedford 10

On Sunday 29th January thirteen Stags took part in the Bedford 10 miler. Most of us did it as part of our preparation for the forthcoming Cambridge Half Marathon but Kathryn Ellis did it for fun; the day after racing cross country in the Southern Cross Country Championships! Needless to say Kathryn led the Stags home not so closely followed by Dave Byrne and David Scott both improving on their times in the Buntingford 10. There were great performances by everyone; Oana Labontu-Radu finished with a terrific sprint while Ann Phillips, Agnes Jacobs, Geraldine Stapleton, Stephanie De’Ath and Linda Dworowski all came very close to breaking 90 minutes. Next time! Ros de la Bertauche came first in her age category and is clearly returning to form.

Everyone left smiling, although Ros’s homemade scones helped with that considerably.

In terms of the race it was a dry but chilly morning while the course itself is fantastic. It is a single lap starting and finishing on the beautiful Bedford Embankment and includes long stretches running alongside the tree lined river Ouse as well as around Priory Lake. The whole route is on traffic-free tarmac or firm paths and is flat and fast. The location is easy to get to with lots of parking, friendly, chip-timed, well organised and marshalled. We’ll be back next year.

Kathryn Ellis led the Stags home in a time of 1:22:08 followed by Dave Byrne (1:25:37), David Scott (1:28:01), Ann Phillips (1:30:55) Agnes Jacobs (1:31:11), Geraldine Stapleton (1:31:15), Stephanie De’Ath (1:31:31), Linda Dworowski (1:31:51), Tracey Deeks (1:36:39), Alessandra Almeida-Jones (1:40:07), Oana Labontu-Radu (1:44:07), Ros de la Bertauche (1:44:32) and Di Godin (1:44:34).