RACE REPORTS 2026

A murky day didn’t stop almost one hundred of you enjoying some mud and puddles. When I wrote up the course it was either muddy or waterlogged, however when Howard checked it last week it had dried out somewhat. Heavy rain on Friday returned the course to its slippery best and with 800 feet of climb on the longer route provided quite a challenge.

Registration went without a hitch with most people now understanding that “ready to start” means ready to start. Then followed the calm when we waited for the first to return to confirm the route instructions were OK. The first ones back were on the longer course so that meant the route through the various woods was followable and then an early starter on the shorter route returned to prove the short cut worked as well.

Then the crowds start to build and the queue for beer and bacon started to grow. We had a real rush of finishers at one point and wondered if a conga had formed along the course and if anyone had been enticed to join it. They all had numbers though so no problem.

Again we had compliments on the course as it proved to be good training for the upcoming Orion 15. Others commented that it was all uphill; funny how you forget the downhills. 

On the longer course Antony won with Jill in an impressive second overall. The shorter route was won by Simon who was the only person to break the hour. Donna and Sue led home the ladies.

Our next event is Day 2 of the Easter Eggstravaganza at Felsted, but there are three Mid Essex Casuals trails before then. See local events page.

TIDAL TALES

When we picked the date for the Mersea Mix we had no idea of the tide times. So a few weeks ago when we saw that the island might be cut off we began to worry a little as apart from getting over the Strood safely, some of the course was along the beach. Howard checked with the parish council who assured us that the beach path would be under water only in exceptional circumstances. The tide was at least half a metre lower than it can be and for twenty minutes many of you had a shoe cleaning paddle in the sea.

When I checked the course last Monday with Helen we thought it was a very varied course with quite a bit of interest. It seems that many of you agreed and even claimed it was the best course to date we have done on Mersea.

Everyone arrived nice and early as instructed and seemed strangely eager to leave the nice warm club house to take on the cold wind and drizzle that persisted outside.

We didn’t hear too many tales of woe as most people had no trouble with the instructions. Three people however, stacked it as they entered the building at the finish, thankfully having soft landings on the carpet of wet shoes. One runner did TL instead of keep L and ended up on the sewage farm footpath which was much deeper than the sea that you went through. 

It was buzzing in the bar afterwards which is a feature of these races and there were some good photos of your exploits.

The seven (6.94 – 7.01) miles that most of you ran proved quite a challenge as only the winner Roy broke the hour. Winning lady Anna had a great run finishing fifth overall.

See you all next week for some real mudlarks.

FINE RUNNING AND DINING  

The rain beforehand ensured a nice muddy course, but thankfully we were granted a dry night for the run. Thanks to you all for not traipsing mud through the pub afterwards.

Antony was first to return and was buzzing that he had seen deer and a barn owl. He also saw a rabbit which isn’t quite so exciting, although I very rarely see them these days. Antony wasn’t the winner though as Thomas added going the right way to his normal speed to win by 90 seconds. Winning lady was Keeley again with two bodyguards this time in Terry and Brad. 

We had lots of compliments on the course which was about as straightforward as you can get for a night trail. However, we did have a few who struggled. I don’t know how much bigger the gates at Langleys needed to be to convince a couple of runners they were gates. And there was some confusion about RHFE and LHFE with another group. Another runner was looking for a caravan park?? Regulars knew that thru the ford didn’t necessarily mean getting your feet wet (sorry to newcomers……not really!).

The Rose and Crown did us proud again with an excellent meal and of course good beer. That’s the end of the night trails until we return with the annual Tarmac Twister in October. But we have plenty of daylight trails coming up including returning to this venue on Easter Monday for Day 4 of the Easter Eggstravaganza. See you there.

WET START TO THE YEAR  

A miserably wet evening after a miserably wet day didn’t deter 48 of the faithful conquering a very wet course and yet more wet stuff falling from the sky.

The gates were open so no problem there, however one group, who will remain nameless, couldn’t work out how to get through a kissing gate and climbed over it. The padlocked bit of the gate is for wheel chair access, the rest of the gate was open.

We had a few newbies who all did well although one of them thought 5m was minutes not metres. Luckily he didn’t think it was miles. Talking of luck, if the race had been last week a lot of the route would have been flooded. Maybe it will be again soon after yesterday.

Strangely the field was made up mainly of non local runners who came from all parts of the county. The winning men, Antony and David, however were locals. The winning ladies Keeley and Vicki were from t’up north (Witham way).

Thanks again to everyone at the Horse and Groom and of course we will return in May for the Galleywood Gallop.