Brian Davies was presented to the assembled field and given a well-deserved ovation for having run every single one of the 25 Croft races. Who amongst us Couriers will be there in 2035? If you are, don’t bother delaying the start for me as I shall be 87 and will only do the first lap in any case.
The above is mainly a distraction from our pretty poor show in the race itself. We didn’t even have a women’s team out, the first time I can ever remember that happening. However, Amy flew the flag impressively, coming home strong in 6th position [36.54].
For the men, Eliot maintained his recent fine form in 6th place in 50.43, not so far off the sort of time his Dad used to churn out here. Max’s bulging legs, still zinging from all the spinning, carried him to a commendable 18th in 54.55 just ahead of new former Courier, also in the 45s bracket, Richard Hughes who was a very useful 19th with 55.41. Dave Williams really shouldn’t have run with an achilles injury from the track but limped round wearing the captain’s armband for the first time to finish 38th and final scorer [59.37]. Herington beat Cawardine this time but both were abashed to be outside the hour, Steve, 41st in 60.06, Pete 43rd in 60.45. Richard Wall, a bit shagged out from Max’s harsh training regime, was timed in at 61.46 [48th] with Kev , not having time to do his breakfasts justice before the 11.0 start, experiencing an unbearable lightness of being in 57th [63.31] 56 places behind his son and heir. Nigel, dreaming of fast road courses, battled his way to 68th [65.51] 10 places clear of Mark [68.29] who was having a rare break from his holidays. The team finished a disappointing 4th behind even the Valley’s ‘B’ team. “We can only go in one direction from here” the new skipper said, applying one of Kev’s bacon rinds to his sore tendon but forgetting to add whether he meant up or down.