RACE REPORTS 2025

A later Easter provided the hoped for better weather and all four days survived the rain. The numbers in attendance were slightly higher than last year even with the marathon season in full swing. Last year the split between male and female competitors was exactly 50/50. This year that has increased to 53.7% ladies with 57% making up the field on Monday. The friendly atmosphere was plain to see after the runs on all four days.

DAY ONE

Despite online entry (which makes it so much easier for me to collate the results) Dave still loves a queue. Luckily the weather was sunny and warm and you get a chance to swap injury stories and make your excuses before the start.

Dave had laid on three courses which all started and finished the same. I set off and had to wait in the first narrow enclosed path to let some dog walkers through. Then I reached the road. The instructions baffled me and I dubiously went with the consensus of runners who had caught me up. After that I had no problem with the instructions until the last mile where I missed a marker post in the hedge and added an extra 100m or so. I did however pass a chap near Bocking who was looking for a footbridge. An FSD might have helped there.

Neil had kindly asked me what I wanted to drink when he passed me with a mile to go, so I was able to walk past the queue for the bar and pick up my pint and walk back out to a lot of bemused faces. Unfortunately I’m sure the pint of Timothy Taylors Landlord was fine but my taste buds were still battling with the chocolate bunny I’d foolishly wolfed down at the finish.

Well done to Antony and Melissa on the long course, Paul and Rachel on middle route and Snig and Emma on the short.

DAY TWO

An early start for me on Saturday. I normally run from the Little Baddow car park on Saturday mornings but there was an 8.30 start rather than my normal 9.00.

It was a dull morning but not cold. I could have sat down and read the entire instructions and then gone and run the route, but I like a bit of a challenge so I never read more than a sentence ahead. I was behind a very rowdy group of LBRR who have probably never seen any wildlife on their runs in the country. They pulled away from me on Postmans Lane, but I caught and overtook them in Heather Hills when they stopped to look at the view.

Andy, the course designer, had decided this year to up the climb as I don’t remember ever visiting the two benches in Heather Hills on this event before. I let the LBRR crew ahead on the long enclosed path to Blakes Wood and overtook them with my drier but fiddlier navigation of the Chicken Korma section.

A lot of people in the woods for the bluebells and back to the pavilion for a lovely cuppa and a cold cross bun. 

Well done to Antony and Rachel on the 10 miler and Chris and Anna on the 5 mile route which I did.

DAY 3

I arrived at the Chequers after two entrants but before Howard. The pub manager hadn’t risen from his slumbers, but a phone call soon saw him up and about and registration began. I had checked the course on Thursday on a lovely sunny day and we were in luck again.

Lots of people remarked on the pleasantness of the route and there didn’t seem to be too many troubles with the instructions. Unhampered by chocolate the Timothy Taylors Landlord was excellent (a brand new barrel I believe).

Antony again and Jill were the winners.

DAY 4

Is it the end of an era? After years of loyal and steadfast service “the Brick” (my ancient laptop) decided that today was the day to play up. I once slipped outside the Cock at Ongar on the way to registration and smashed “the Brick” into the ground. I turned it on with trepidation and it started as normal. “The Brick” which has never been infected by the internet and therefore never had any updates, and has manfully run on Windows 1865 for over twenty years has finally thrown a wobbly.

Well the keyboard has. I found to my dismay that I couldn’t type in a 5 or a 7 without hitting another number at the same time. Setting people off became a bit of a chore and a queue formed. But it was typing in the numbers as people finished that posed the main problem. I had to type in a 1 (so as to get a time) if anyone came back in with a number containing a 5 or a 7 and write down their number to input later against the right time. Imagine my joy when numbers 75, 76 77 and 78 all came in together.  And you lot just thought it was the usual smooth operation.

It was another dry and not too cold day and everyone was set off OK. As usual it is always a worry until the first runners come back especially when they tell you there are people all over the place. As it happens they were supposed to be all over the place as the route passed a couple of points twice. I had warned everyone not to follow anyone as the route was a twister. The only point of major confusion was in the wood with the tyres. I had changed this instruction after Howard checked the route the other day. Still everyone came back.

The Rose and Crown was again a great host with bacon butties and a nice pint of Bishop Nick 1555 and Ben the landlord thanks you all for parking considerately on the main road.

Antony completed a clean sweep and Jackie won the ladies event.

Thanks to Mid Essex Casuals, Little Baddow Ridge Runners and Springfield Striders for 

hosting great and friendly events. Thanks to the pubs for coping admirably and the tea and cake people at Little Baddow. But mainly thanks to you the 285 runners. Here’s to next year.

PRIZE LIST

 A GREAT MUSEUM TRAIL 

It was a later than normal Saturday morning for me. Usually I can be found shuffling around the hills of Little Baddow. Today, however, it was A Great Museum trail from the Museum of Power at Langford.

I stopped off in Boreham to get my newspaper and the heavens opened. I had only brought road shoes and had no waterproofs with me. Luckily the rain soon stopped and the sun even made an appearance as I joined the early birds outside the museum.  I heard the moving of furniture coming from the crew hut and discovered Dave and Sylv setting up.

So I was first off and not overtaken until the winner Adam passed me just before the old railway platform. Next to pass was John and we both went too far right. Richard queried our decision and got us back on track. Then my second mistake came as Dean caught me up and again Richard put me right.

After that it was all plain sailing and not a hill in sight. It was a good run for me as I managed to run almost all the way which these days is unusual and there wasn’t a stile (other than Yan) on the course. 

A coffee and a chat afterwards with everyone and back home in time for lunch.

BLOW BY BLOW REPORT

Another great turnout for the Mersea Mix which was run in complete contrast to last year’s weather. The rain and the mud of 2024 was replaced by the sun and a bit of mud for good measure and oh yes the wind. Lots of comments on the outward journey about fighting into the teeth of a gale, but strangely nobody seemed to notice the benefits of the tailwind on the way back.

This is the fourth time we have run from here and although Mersea isn’t blessed with many footpaths Howard managed to conjure up another new route and found probably the wettest footpath on the island for you all to splash through.

Howard’s day started badly when he got stuck in, then diverted incorrectly around the Colchester half marathon road closures. He did, however, arrive in time so we could start as advertised. 

It was great to see quite a few new faces, with a bit of trepidation at the start, but they all returned in one piece having enjoyed self-navigating for the first time.

One instruction caused some confusion ‘As path opens out TL X grass to pass concrete bunker. TL on TK.’ If you did TL to pass the bunker you could not fail to see the track that ran behind it. However if you BL (cutting the corner) you might have missed it. 

Unfortunately the short course had too much road in it for our liking, but it did mean fast times. Sam claimed another bottle of wine winning in just over 38 minutes and Claudia was first lady. In the longer run Antony enjoyed the breezy conditions to blast around in just over the hour. Keeley took the honours in the ladies race.

See you all at Easter.

RUNNERS GET MUDDLED  

Another great turnout at the Smugglers Den where we were welcomed by blue skies and sunshine which after recent weeks was a great relief. However the rain of the last few days had made parts of the course somewhat challenging.

As usual we weren’t the first to arrive and found both Richard and Lynn waiting for us in the car park. It wasn’t long before the bar was thronging with people and we got off to a prompt start. The first part of the course along the river through the nature reserve is notable for the fattest grey squirrels in the land that actually come running up to you for food.

Unfortunately Hullbridge isn’t over endowed with footpaths (that actually get you anywhere) so we had to navigate through the houses. We check and recheck our routes and when the first runner came back with no mishaps (we’ve seen his Strada) all was well. However this was the area that caused the most problems with reports of runners roaming the streets like a host of badly dressed election canvassers. Or well dressed zombies.

The next problem seemed to be bus stops. Is a bus stop without a shelter a bus stop? We think so.

The next point of contention was the railway where some decided that the instructions to turn left on narrow path and turn right at marker post were to throw people off the scent and duly crossed at the wrong crossing. 

Back to the narrow path. About four weeks ago I got through with a few scratches so when rechecking the route with Helen we did quite a bit of pruning. Howard did a little more last Wednesday. The problem however was not the undergrowth but the rain and the fact a motorbike had been through as well had created a quagmire. This strangely seemed to be most people’s favourite part.

Next trouble-spot was another bus stop. This one did have a shelter as well so no excuses there but it does help to be on the right side of the road (not the left).

Finally a few struggled through the woods even though we kept the route to the main track.

Plenty of happy people at the finish though, who replenished on beer and bacon butties. It was nice to meet some new people who were trying our form of trail running for the first time.

I did have a bit of finger trouble at one point so there might be a few errors in the results. No doubting who our winners were though with Antony and Lynn winning the long run and Anna and Snig the shorter route.

Next up is Mersea Mix and we promise no bus stops.

BOGGLE   

A beautiful sunny morning greeted competitors at this year’s Boggle and Bit of a Boggle. This Mid Essex Casuals race has been a biannual feature since 2011. Sue and John Clarke have created several routes but have now settled on a figure of eight from Terling.

I had offered to help at the first drink station and arrived at Terling village hall just before 9 which was after most of the runners had gone and also my drink station partner Clare. 

As I drove from Terling to Great Leighs I passed quite a few runners at Fuller Street.

When I met up with Clare she was pleased to see me as the two tables Dave had given her to use must have been designed by Mr Rubic. We sort of got the bigger one up well enough to hold the drinks and food, but we still had two bits left over on the smaller one which we decided not to use.

Luckily we had set up just far enough into the field so that the twenty or so group of runners which we assumed were marathon training weren’t inclined to get muddy feet and steal a drink. Clare had put out most of the food; I made her put some away because, knowing trail runners, the plateful of jelly babies would last about three people if we were lucky. As predicted one of the last people through did take two handsfuls.

We didn’t know at the time, due to staggered starts, who was winning, but Rebecca and Ben certainly looked good as they went through. Dave phoned to let us know the non starters which included number 38 who had just that minute left us claiming to have lost the instructions. Turns out they were never picked up at registration. 

Then it was back to the hall for some lovely home made (by Sue) soup. Sue had excelled and conjured up a fantastic array of home made snacks and meals.

The day had now turned cold and windy as I watched a few runners return to the hall at the 11 mile point.

Well done to the runners and many thanks to Sue and John for putting on another great event.

DARK ROSE

Thanks for another great turnout and well done to the majority of you that remembered to bring your running shoes. A few people turned at a marker post rather than passing it, but most seemed to have no bother apart from one slippery ditch.

When I sorted the course a few weeks ago the whole course was waterlogged and the ditch was full with fast flowing water. Luckily a few dry days before race day firmed things up and there were some very good times. Antony won by over 5 minutes from Thomas with Megan and Rachel finishing in an impressive third spot.

It was yet another one of our events where the ladies outnumbered the men. Long may it continue.

The Rose and Crown again did us proud with the food and service and we’ll be back on Easter Monday for the Eggstravaganza

DARK HORSE   

The weather gods were kind and the course not too muddy for our first night run from one of our favourite haunts.

The only point of contention seems to have been the disappointment about the size of the tank, with most people expecting something bigger and some even a Sherman. The pub as usual did us proud with the food, good beer and most importantly putting the heating on at 9am so we weren’t two brass monkeys when you got back.

Some very fast times from the winning men, Antony, Paul and Luke who will have to get, or perhaps draw straws, to share their prize. And well done to Rachel ably assisted by Dad to win the ladies event.

Our next event another night trail, the Dark Rose, is already sold out and we have updated our fixtures page with most of our events for the coming year.