John Manley and B&R Girls County Champions

Uffmoor Shuffle

Sunday 2nd November 2008

Five B&R runners traveled the short distance to take part in Halesowen A.C.’s “Uffmoor Shuffle”, a 10 km multi-terrain race which was also the Worcestershire Multi-Terrain Championships.

Due to the previous evenings downpour it was always going to be an interesting course but luckily it was no as cold as previous mornings.

The race is a shortened version of the old Halesowen Hillock” route with the majority of the course around Uffmoor Woods which we were informed by the starter were “very muddy”.

After the gun I found myself in the unusual positionof leading the race which ran along tarmac for the first mile or so before turning on to a farm track.

As soon as we left the track it was obvious that it was going to be hard going, especially when the marshal said “through the water and straight on” which is when we hit the mud.

It was incredibly hard going and the woods could only be described as a “slog” with hardly any firm ground and plenty of tree roots to concentrate on.

Through the woods the leading group had dwindled to myself and Halesowen’s Mark Hadley and we took turns trying to find the easiest route whilst staying on our feet.

Mark made a break with about 2 miles to go and established a lead of around 10 metres that he maintained to the end, winning in a time of 40.12 to my 40.31.

Recently retired John Manly who has been on a strict training regime of lie-ins and daytime T.V. ran well to finish in 14th place, narrowly missing out on the over 50 prize.

Ann Stuart led the three girls home finishing 53rd in 53.23, closely followed by Melanie Hepke who was 55th in 53.33. Dagmar Prinzing completed the team in 74th in a time of 57.32.

133 runners completed the “schlammschlacht” (mud fight) as Mel called it!

As it was also the Worcestershire Championships there were pleasant surprises for B&R runners and the results were as follow:

Ian Keyte – V40-50 Second

John Manley – V50-60 County Champion

Ann Stuart – FV 40-50 Second.

Mel Hepke – FV 35-45 Second

Dagmar Prinzing – FV 35-45 Third.

B&R Womens Team (Ann, Mel and Dagmar)- County Champions

Luckily we were all back in time to get a rare hot shower at the venue, except for Ann who found that John had taken the car keys in his haste to get one and by the time she retrieved her kit the showers were ice cold – lucky she has Scottish blood in her veins!

Click here for full results