27/10/2024
‘We few, we happy few’
On St.Crispin’s day 2024, on the 609th Anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, 300 extremely lightly armoured runners (leotards, leggings & popsocks) gathered amongst the trees in the failing light for the terrifying trial that lay ahead. They had dressed to impress, by jolly if this crowd were going to fall victim to a festering monstrosity in the forest, then they were going to look good as they were being devoured.
Their mission, was threefold:
• To enter the misty primordial forest and navigate the winding trail with a view to keeping one step ahead of the zombies in pursuit & eventually finding the way out.
• Avoid the abhorrent Albino Alpaca of Haldon at all costs.
• Attempt to look dignified whilst simultaneously being jumped on by a deadly orange clad despicable duplet whilst a photographer attempts to incinerate your retinas.
Not everyone made it out of the Forest in front of the undead, two were taken by the Alpaca, unfortunately no one managed to look dignified…
Friday was also the 170th anniversary of the infamous charge of the light brigade, admittedly there were much fewer horses on Friday than at the battle of Balaclava and the swords were not quite as pointy, however it was still stirring stuff watching them charge down the hill, wands & meat cleavers held aloft. At this point it’s probably worth noting that the few survivors that did manage to cross the finish line were not quite as composed as they had been during the initial charge, and most were out of breath for some reason.
We had fun runners making a medium risk daylight dash before most of the Zombies had clocked in for duty, we had 5k & 10k Canicross in failing light confident in the ability of their four-legged companions to keep the rotting corpses at bay, and we had 5k & 10k Running dead bravely plunging headfirst into the trees to a highly probable grisly demise, hats off to you all!
Special mentions for:
2.5k Fun Run
Reuben Johnson of Sidmouth Running club – 1st Male, 1st Junior Male in a time of 16mins 2secs!
Hattie Hewart – 1st Female, 1st Junior Female in a time of 17mins 36secs!
Ralph Greenfield – 2nd Male.
Ottie Brewer – 2nd Female.
Jack Harrison – 3rd Male.
Anna David - 3rd Female, 1st Open Female.
Jamie Town – 1st vet40m.
Sarah Crowe – 1st vet40f.
Nick Robinson – 1st vet50m.
5k Running Dead
Erin Greenfield of Guernsey Athletics Colts – 1st Female, 1st Junior Female in a time of 26mins 32secs!
Austin Hewart – 1st Male, 1st Junior Male in a time of 26mins 48secs!
Phoebe Timson of COPAC – 2nd Female.
Damian Fletcher – 2nd Male, 1st vet40m.
Lily Hewart – 3rd Female.
William reed – 3rd Male, 1st Open Male.
Rowena Murphy – 1st Open Female.
Sarah Shaw of Budleigh Runners! – 1st vet40f.
Nick Presdee – 1st vet50m.
Louise Rawlins of Axe Valley Runners Members Only – 1st vet50f.
Simon Bunday of Haldon Trail Runners – 1st vet60m.
Sally Amphlett of Bovey Valley Runners – 1st vet60f.
10k Running Dead
Adam Tango Holland (Zombie) – 1st Male, 1st Open Male in a time of 42mins 15secs!
Freya Tomlinson – 1st Female, 1st Open Female in a time of 52mins 39secs!
Jack Miller – 2nd Male.
Ruth Ellis – 2nd Female.
Billy Richards – 3rd Male.
Lottie Jackson – 3rd Female, 1st Junior Female.
Peter Deckles of Dawlish Coasters– 1st vet40m.
Lou Williams of Runs RC – 1st vet40f.
Gary Richards of Truro Running Club – 1st vet50m.
Lisa Crossman – 1st vet50f.
Derek Skinner of Teignbridge Trotters – 1st vet60m.
Jane Hirons – 1st vet60f.
Jacky Theedom of Running Network – 1st vet70f.
This event was Round 8 of the 2024 PGE 5k & 10k Trail championship Series with the top 10 male & female runners in each distance earning championship series points! After Round 8 the leaderboards look like this:
5k Female Championship
1st – Charlotte Tonks of STAARC – 51 pts.
2nd – Phoebe Timson of COPAC – 39 pts.
3rd – Emma Richards of Mud Crew Running – 32 pts.
4th – Victoria Ham – 25 pts.
5th – Daisy Hassle of Pentashot – 17 pts.
5k Male Championship
1st – Jake Stone of St.Austell RC – 42 pts.
2nd – Ryan Marks of St.Austell RC – 40 pts.
3rd – Spencer Ham – 36 pts.
4th – Joshua Mills of Cornwall Athletics Club, Oliver Meredew – 34 pts.
5th – Damian Fletcher - 19 pts.
10k Female Championship
1st – Katie Arnold, Megan Ellis – 25 pts.
2nd – Vivianne Bunn – 19 pts.
3rd – Milly Parker, Katie Warner – 18 pts.
4th – Jade Biggs of Cornwall Athletics Club – 15 pts.
5th – Sarah Green – 11 pts.
10k Male Championship
1st – Gary Richards of Truro Running Club – 47 pts.
2nd – Liam Jonas of Tamar Trotters Running Club Saltash – 39 pts.
3rd – Troy Taylor – 18 pts.
4th – Angus Mentor of Haldon Trail Runners, James Powell of Newlyn East Runners , Matthew Pasternakiewicz, Charles Buscombe of Newquay Road Runners, Nicholas Reynolds – 10 pts.
5th – Josh Coyne of SWRR, Archie Phillips of GGAC, Jack Gale, Adam Lighton, B.Deakin of Perran Trail Runners, Jack Miller – 9 pts.
Running Dead Results
During this Round both the 5k & 10k runners were being chased by Zombies, with the overall results as follows:
• All Running Dead 10k Runners were in fact officially nibbled during the course of their run, meaning non actually survived. (Every who came in from 2nd place onwards….)
• The following Running Dead 5k runners managed to stay one step ahead of the shuffling monstrosities and ultimately survived the night: Erin.G, Austin H, Damian.F, William R, Jon.G, Phoebe.T, Lily.H, Jake.S, Clay.V, Nicholas.W, David.M, Sarah.S, Aaron.H, Aaron.H, Andrew.H, Rowena.M, Emma.R (All those in before the first 5k Zombie at 33mins 33secs!
5k Canicross
Tamara Beach plus Enzo of Canicross UK – 1st Female, 1st Open Female in a time of 18mins 46secs!
Chris Glasson plus Mabel - 1st Male, 1st Open Male in a time of 22mins 24secs!
Gemma Gallant plus Chilli of GLG_Canicrew – 2nd Female.
Barry Osborne plus Odie of STAARC – 2nd Male, 1st vet50m.
Tanya Glasson plus Luna – 3rd Female.
Darren Bailey plus Miles of Canicross Cornwall – 3rd Male.
Rob Moss plus Jazzy – 1st vet40m.
Maria Ward plus Elsie - 1st vet40f.
Kirby Everett plus Cooper – 1st vet50f.
Jane Jackson plus Mist of Coast Canicross – 1st vet60f.
10k Canicross
Jamie Howard plus Hachi of – 1st Male, 1st vet40m in a time of 42mins 22secs!
Carole Loader plus Scoobie of Okehampton Running Club (ORC) – 1st Female, 1st vet50f in a time of 56mins 38secs!
Paul Grayston plus Toby – 2nd Male, 1st vet60m.
Viki Mclennan-Wiggin plus Flo – 2nd Female, 1st Open Female.
Ian Mcclean plus Khani of Torbay Tri Club - Members Only – 3rd Male, 1st vet50m.
This event was Round 2 in the PGE 2024-2025 5k & 10k Canicross championship sponsored by Non-stop dogwear, the top 20 male & finishers in both distances earn Championship series points. After Round 2 the leaderboards are now looking like this:
5k Female Canicross Championship
1st - Tamar Beach of Canicross UK – 40 pts.
2nd – Gemma Gallant of GLG_Canicrew – 38 pts.
3rd – Maria Ward – 30 pts.
4th – Paula Osborne – 26 pts.
5th – Jackie Haskins of Canicross, Tanya Glasson – 18 pts.
5k Male Canicross Championship
1st – Chris Glasson – 39 pts.
2nd – Barry Osborne of STAARC – 37 pts.
3rd – Darren Bailey of Canicross Cornwall– 34 pts.
4th – Jason Pascoe of Non-stop dogwear – 20 pts.
5th – David Starley of The Green Runners, Freddie Davis – 17 pts.
10k Female
1st – Carole Loader of Okehampton Running Club (ORC) – 40 pts.
2nd – Viki Mcclennan-Wiggan – 19 pts.
10k Male
1st – Paul Grayston – 36 pts.
2nd – Matt Lawless, Jamie Howard of SWRR – 20 pts.
3rd – Andrew Harverson – 19 pts.
4th – Alec Church of Canicross Cornwall, Ian Mcclean of Torbay Tri Club - Members Only – 18 pts.
5th – Peter Graham – 17 pts.
Congratulations all!
We would like to thank Haldon Forest Park - Forestry England, Your Event Supplier, The Events Depot, Brand88 Print & Design, Sports, Results Base, HP Photography, Karen for registration, Dave for timing, Mandy & Team plus Pam for the finish, Mike, Charlotte & Gemma for sweeping, Adam, Derek Walker, Matt, Emma & Derek Weeks for being Zombie Chasers, Kelly & Hannah for being the resident scare the pants off of you in the woods Zombies, Keeley, Chris, Alice & Lucie for marshalling and of course you, constant runner, for running the undead gauntlet deep in the Forest on a very dark night In October.
Race photos up on our main page, staff / finish photos out tomorrow😊
