Fen Ditton Dash 2008 (for the academic year '08-'09)

By James Chettle

The muddy meadows around Fen Ditton were the setting for the second race of the college league. The lack of traction was always going to provide an eventful race, likely to put the runners' wellbeing in some risk. More surprising however, was the risk posed by a herd of stampeding cows. (To be fair, a mass of 50 wild animals running through your home would be quite sufficient to terrify the average cow!) If you coped with these obstacles, there was always the chance that the runner in front of you would try to break your legs by slamming a farm gate into them (now which idiot would do a thing like that?).

Leading the men home was James Kelly (Jesus), with an in-form Matt Clark (Homerton) following not far behind. Strong performances from Brown, Richardson and Blaum saw Jesus take top spot overall.

In the women's race, Angharad Porteous (Jesus) made an impressive return to racing to take victory well clear of Polly Keen (Murray Edwards). With a large gap both ahead and behind her, Tricia Peters (Darwin) claimed a solid third place. Jesus did the double by winning the team competition clear of King's.

However, (arguably) the most important result of the day was Robin Brown's burst of pace from the start to the railway bridge to claim the title of King of the Bridge.

Thanks go to Jane Mackey, Alex Bell and James Gill for ensuring the course was well marked and marshalled, as well as all the marshals themselves, those who cleared up afterwards and finally to the ever-efficient Mark Coley who may have set a new PB in publishing the race results a mere two hours after the finish. (Ed: Record stands with the Freshers' Fun Run 2008 when the results were up on the web site before the last runners had left the pavillion...)