MAC round-up: Brilliant efforts on Hambledon Midsummer Murder trail

Hambledon Midsummer Murder trail

This is a spectacular trail race with incredible views across the Hambledon Valley, going past the Vicar of Dibley church at Turville and climbing up to the famous Chitty Chitty Bang Bang featured Windmill,reports John Ingram.

There were four of us in the MAC team and we had some brilliant performances. Alejandro came second in the men's overall half marathon race which was actually 14.3 miles and also won his age category in 2:11:47.

Colin Broadbent came second in his age category in the 10 mile race in 1:47:20 Richard Davies finished 13th overall in the half marathon and fifth in his age category with a time of 2:30:57.

Brilliant running by all three of them in the significant heat on a very challenging course with 700 meters of elevation.

As for my run, it was all going well at the half marathon cut off 7.1 miles in. Though I was close to the cut off time limit I was running well and elected to loop back into the half marathon extra lap round the windmill while many around me were bailing out of the half and heading home to take the 10 mile run.

I'm not an experienced trail runner by any means and really underestimated the fact that there were four monumental hills still to go and the temperature was ratcheting up quickly to 30C.

By the time I got up the windmill for the second time my calf's were cramping up and I was taking long breaks at the numerous water stations to load up. The last hill at 13.1 miles seemed to go on forever and took me 18 minutes to get up an elevation of 152 meters.

But there was great camaraderie at the back of the race and I really appreciated the marshal two miles out giving me a massive handful of jelly babies which was just enough to get me up that last hill. The marshals were brilliant all round and gave us so much encouragement. We all got a tremendous cheer at the end.

Anyway, my time was a thoroughly heart-breaking 3 hours 15 minutes. I wasn't last though. Will I be back for another go at the half marathon 14.3 mile course next year? With quite a few lessons learned, absolutely.

Easter 10 Charity Donations

Thanks to the generosity of the local running community and club volunteers, Maidenhead Athletic Club has been able to make donations to two local charities from the proceeds from this year's Easter 10.

The club has donated £2,750 each to two local charities to support their excellent work supporting families and children in the Borough:

Maidenhead Foodshare – the funds will go towards supporting families with much needed food support during the forthcoming summer school vacation.

Maidenhead & Windsor Family Friends – the funds will go towards helping the charity continue to provide practical and emotional support and make a positive difference to children and families across the Borough.