Phil shares this latest report from The Abominable Snowman Tough 10, Extreme Cross Country Running Event at Cheverton Farm, Shorwell, Isle of Wight on Saturday 29 December. Ed
More than 450 runners took to the start line of the fifth edition of The Abominable Snowman Tough 10 running event over the festive period. Cheverton Farm, Shorwell played host once more and the competitors chose between a 10Km or 10 mile course.
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The majority of the field was filled from the various running clubs here on the Island including the Godshill Massive, Wight Tri, IOW Road Runners, Wootton Bridge Runners, West Wight and Ryde Harriers.
Wet, cold, steep and muddy
The course lived up to its billing as wet, cold, steep and muddy. Competitors had to conquer waist deep water, natural obstacles along with the steep and muddy trails.
On a breezy day almost 60 under 11s took part in the toughest Mini-Snowman race in its five year history, all to the music of Fat Samba playing in the background.
Many of the younger competitors were accompanied by parents along the steep 1km course.
Winners
In the main race, the winner of the 10 mile event was Jack Grundy crossing the line in a time of 1hr 14mins. Second and third overall and first place in their respective categories were Les Cupis (V50) 1hr.18 and Sean Williams (V40) a few seconds behind at 1hr.18.
Seventh overall in a field of 126 runners was Robyn Fossa aged just 13, her time of 1.23 took first place in the junior female category, was first female overall , and was one of the days notable achievements.
No barriers
Also completing the course was partially sighted Sarah Probert along with a group of Ryde Harriers who completed the 10Km . Winning the 10 Km overall was in a time of 46:46 was James Fletcher (Junior), second Callum Tanner 48:26 (Senior M) and third Paul Wood 50:01 (V40 M).
To celebrate the fifth year of the event, GP Sport teamed up with Goddards Brewery of Bullen, Ryde to bring an Abominable Snowman beer to the event, samples of which were given to competitors half way round the course and some lucky winners received bottles as spot prizes too.
Prizes for all
This year the top runners were competing for glory and bragging rights, but everyone who entered had a chance of taking home a wonderful prize, ranging from edible munchies to head wear, sports bags and with the help of Goodall Roofing a top prize of a Love Running (St James Street, Newport) voucher of £100, which was scooped up by Clare Bradley.
The organisers said that they appreciate that the course is tough and that the top runners compete for the glory, but many hundreds take part for the fun and this year for our fifth birthday we wanted to give everyone a chance of winning something and so the prizes were awarded in a lottery format.
Next edition already planned
Event organisers GP Sport said,
“We are very happy with the way the event went and are pleased to see it grow year on year, this year saw record numbers take to the start line and we have had lots of good feedback.
“The event has become a staple of post-Christmas fun with mud thrown in and we are very grateful to the continued support of the local running community.
“We are already planning the next edition and entries will open later in the year. For details of this event and other GP Sport events go to the Website.”
Image: Headline image © BJ Fisher
