After days and days of really uncomfortable weather we were fortunate enough to get the first pleasant day of June for the race and we didn't even have the midges – clearly they hadn't warmed up enough yet !!

I'm sorry there was a certain amount of confusion about such race details as start time, entries, teams, etc. – this can go squarely at the door of the FRA's ridiculous policy on truncating the website information (which they had been given in full) of races registered elsewhere than with the FRA. There were full details in the actual FRA Calendar, the WFRA Calendar and the WFRA website but those people who relied on the FRA website had problems – 57 of them emailed me in the four days before the race and got the information they needed but I suspect from the slightly reduced field that quite a few were disappointed.

However, back to the race – Macclesfield and Stockport arrived in force yet again and the results clearly reflect this. Simon Harding, last year's winner, will have to engrave the trophy yet again after a fine run to come home first over a minute and a half clear of James Scott-Buccleugh, who was a minute ahead of the next two, Tom Bush and Gareth Briggs (the first veteran) and then there were another two minutes before the pack arrived in force, led by Olivia Walwyn who put in a superb performance to finish not only first lady but an astonishing fifth place overall. Congratulations are definitely due here.

I apologise profusely to Jeff Norman for giving his V70 position to Trevor Faulkner; my fault entirely as I didn't even look at the first results board for a V70 on the assumption that they would be a lot further down the field – Jeff's continued speed proved me embarrassingly wrong !!

One notable and pleasant feature was the appearance in some strength of two clubs, Chorlton (21 runners) and Bramhall (14 runners), the first of which produced the 3rd lady but who could by no stretch of imagination be described as established fell running clubs – very nice to see them and I hope they continue to grow and prosper in the future.

I trust everyone enjoyed themselves, including the dedicated marshalling and officiating team to whom I offer my heartfelt thanks, and I look forward to seeing you next year.     Dave Jones