63rd Thames Hare & Hounds Annual Alumni Race

There is no avoiding the fact that it is difficult encouraging enough runners to make up an Old Salopian Hunt team for the Annual Alumni Race.  This year was no different, but we made a Team of Four on the day, which was enough for The Open Race category.  

The Thames Hare & Hounds Running Club headquarters is at the Roehampton corner of Wimbledon Common and is a fairly easy to find venue  for anyone in the South, including me, driving down from Shrewsbury!  I was greeted first by Rupert Lougee (SH 88-93), back once more, after his 1^st attendance last year.  Chris Beaumont (136^th Huntsman 76-77) came to wish us well, as we gathered amongst a very large crowd of runners and spectators.  It was a real pleasure to welcome Kris Blake (S. 2009-11), who had cycled along to the event, being one of the youngest Team members for some years.  Then Simon Pickles (M. 71-76) arrived with his son, Sam, showing dedication to The Team for the 4^th year in a row. 

Having signed in, it was time to get changed and pin the numbers on our OSH Running Vests, followed by The Team Photo, taken by Sam.  After a warm-up trot in the fairly strong wind, we side stepped the waterlogged grass in front of the clubhouse, to find a start line on the Playing Fields and at 2.30pm, the multi-coloured blur of runners set off, disappearing into the woods and up muddy narrow tracks. 

The course is well marked and marshalled, as we found our pace levelling out along the top of the ridge.  Some of the obstacles needed to be jumped or avoided and the uphill muddy sections would sap energy from tired legs. It was good to have support from the 148^th Huntsman of 1986-87, Chris Vernon-Parry, who took some good photos along the way.  The last section involves a downhill path bringing us back to The Playing Fields, which we have to run around two sides to reach the finish funnel, where there is always a good welcome from all. 

After another photo, we showered and enjoyed a tea and cake, while waiting for the results. Unfortunately, Thames Hare & Hounds were (once again) having some difficulty with their computing, so we dispersed after another good afternoon of running amongst one of the biggest fields of competition for this race, totalling 217 finishers, from 28 schools’ Alumni.  I later received some provisional results, showing Sean Renfer, sole runner from The Tiffin School, from Kingston-Upon-Thames, winning in 26 minutes 16 seconds.  Our first man to finish was Kris Blake at 54^th (no times yet), followed by Rupert Lougee at 96^th, then Simon Pickles at 162^nd and then myself at 172^nd, where I recorded my own watch time of 39:44 minutes over the 5 mile course. It looks as though Sherborne probably won the Open Race, as they had six runners in the first 30, but TH & H will eventually publish the full results and Team positions on their website www.thameshareandhounds.org.uk/alumni.php.