Match Result:  1st Woking 42 points:  2nd Ful-On-Tri 56 points:  3rd Straggs A 95 points:  8th Straggs B 251 points (16 Teams)

Stragglers Team Representatives today were:

Sophie Biggs - Gail Caruana - Lynda Chase - Juliet Cleghorn - Phyllis Flynn - Janice Franks - Liz Fraser - Mirella Genziani

Julie Haworth - Eliza Hawthorn - Brigid Hibberd - Mary Hyde - Liz Killip - Patricia Ronksley - Mollie Routledge 

Dee Smale - Ramona Thevenet.

We had 17 runners buzzing at the start as the Straggler Bee's flooded the starting pen and were soon stung into action by the starting pistol.  So they're off and again a swarm of yellow vests are quickly to the fore with queen bee "Sophie B" right in the mix and closely followed by newcomer Mollie with Liz, Phyllis, Juliet, Dee and Eliza in close attendance.  The course was run over 2 laps on an undulating course with at least one testing hill just to break up the speed merchants. Race conditions were fair to difficult with tree roots a plenty, mud and stony paths. Most of the front runners were wearing spikes but not the choice for all.

At the end of the first lap Sophie was just in touch with the first 5, running strong and looking determined in the chase.  Not far behind Sophie (Helene, Pam and myself looked surprised as) Mollie was the next Straggler to come through.None of us had any pre race knowledge of Mollie, I did a quick Power of 10 check on my phone, only to receive nothing on Mollie. We were all excited and apprehensive at such a top performance, how good would this be for the team if Mollie could hold on to this brilliant effort.

It was fairly obvious early on that Woking had this race well and truly in the bag with 5 runners to our 2  in the first 15 places.  Our next 5 runners were grouping well at the end of the first lap and 2nd place was looking good with all our girls working hard and supporting each other. 

As they came round to complete lap 2 Woking were really running away with this one and a special mention to Paula Rutherfoord (FOT) who was out of sight at the front with a 90 second advantage over Woking's hard working Jo Payne. Sophie was still in contention with the first 5 and only a minute or so down on 2nd place. Sophie eventually finishing 6th, matching her performance at Nonsuch park in match 2.  Those of us watching were pleased and impressed to see a fantastic run and debut from Mollie holding on well to finish 10th overall with Liz K, Phyllis and Dee closing the first 5 places for Straggs. We were expecting Juliet to be up there, unfortunately, Juliet had a heavy fall, losing her glasses in the process and sustaining minor cuts and bruises. She bravely battled on to finish in 34th position. Hopefully, Juliet will be back in the saddle for the final match.

The final result showed us finishing in 3rd position on the day but still desperately hanging on to that top spot. We will need something extraordinary from all the team in our last match, but today was not disappointing and far from it. All the team put in good performances but better than that was the support given to each other and the extraordinary banter that showed spirit and an upbeat conclusion to the day. Well, we do still have it in our own hands and we were off to the pub to have a drink with Dee who is off on her travels and to celebrate Ramona having completed 600 Parkruns, it's a good job Parkruns are free as the cost for that could be close on £12000 in race entry fee's, good ole parkrun is all I can say. 

I would just like to also say a big thankyou to the first aiders, particularly Liz Searle, Brians wife. Liz was looking after Liz K and one or two others who had given everything on the day in what eventually turned out to be cold, wet and windy conditions.

All our ladies finished. There were 227 finishers.

Please see the results section for the full results.