Burbage Nuts

Burbage Nuts on Sat 10th Dec 2016

RO Ken's magnificent handcrafted, nut-themed, trophies tell you all you need to know really. A labour of love and a long eight miles for anyone who'd had as much to drink the previous evening as I had. Fingers crossed we'll have a reprise next year.

Ken writes -

Surprising for this time of year, we had mild weather for the resurrection of the classic Burbage Nuts, run to the exacting standards as the original which the RO participated in. This meant an initial enquiry from both an old and young runner (who are not to be named) about the possibility of attaining Stanedge Pole by way of Friar's Ridge was quickly squashed and an extra checkpoint hurriedly put in at the end of Stanage. As the RO is artistic and firmly believes far more races should be organised for their aesthetic qualities, he was rather perplexed as to why on earth anyone would want to plodge across that foul, uninspiring bog when they could race along Stanage experiencing its fine, scintillating views. An easy decision to make.

When Willy final arrived (from his Friday night session) he had approx 3 mins to get ready before the race set off . This followed the original start along the narrow path through the woods where pushing and elbowing were encouraged, much to the delight of Dave Holmes. As the RO thought he'd organised the race for the Sunday, he was away working (artistically) on the Friday, meaning he only had time to put 2 lots of nuts out on the Saturday morning, one being after the race set off! These were duly collected by everyone, even though the RO had to stand at check point 2 and hand some to certain runners (fond of elbowing) who thought only one nut had been put out.

Weather was kind but going was heavy under foot, especially along the inhospitable track to Rud Hill as loved by the less aesthetic members of our club. A close battle ensued at the front between Dave and Bob with only 7 seconds splitting them at the finish.

Artistically created trophies were awarded as follows:-

1st Male Dave Lund The Sculptured Nut

1st Female Kirsty Bryan-Jones The Exotic Nut

1st M40 Bob Johnston The Walnut ( may resemble a testicle on a stick to the less cultured amongst us)

1st M50 Jim Paxman Another Walnut

1st M60 Dave Holmes Another Walnut

1st M65 Maurice Musson The Nutscracker (originally created for 1st F40)

1st OAP Mick Cochrane The Dinosaur with Huge Nuts

This continues my awarding of trophies to recognise the stately and wise members in the club.

As this is the second race I've had the pleasure in organising, may I put forward a suggestion I made at the end of the post race pub session? Namely that free beer should be provided to RO's in the future from the club's kitty.

It may be of interest to note that all 4 check points in the race originally had a Trig Point on them, as shown on the RO's map (rather an old one may I say – both RO and map).

Ken Jones, RO