Bench2Bench - 2009 Bench2Bench

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2009 Bench2Bench

Thank you to all who took part in this year’s Bench2Bench. We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did in organising it for his family, friends and fellow runners who value the pastime as much as he did.

The weather couldn’t have been better and we managed to get the 200-strong field of runners, walkers, kids, prams and dogs away pretty much on time. By all accounts everyone enjoyed their run, and unlike last year, nobody went missing or ran more than the intended distance. David Owen, we hope you enjoyed the shorter run this year!

Once again the predictions on both the 5 km and 10 km events were incredibly accurate. Although nobody’s prediction was absolutely on the mark, the best three predictions in the 5 km were one second, one second and three seconds off and in the 10 km, one second, two seconds and six seconds off – quite amazing over that distance.

The winners and times were as follows.

Distance|Position|Name|Prediction|Actual|Difference
5 km
1st James Edwards 0:28:45 0:28:44 1 second
2nd Greg Boyes 0:28:46 0:28:47 1 second
3rd Mike Maurer 0:31:00 0:30:57 3 seconds
10 km
1st Helen Sutherland 1:00:00 1:00:01 1 second
2nd Paul Gordon 0:58:00 0:58:02 2 seconds
3rd Richard McClarty 0:49:00 0:48:54 6 seconds

Thanks to Lynette Bazeley for her normal perfection in the control of the finish and timing.

It seemed that everyone enjoyed the breakfast after their exertions and thanks here go to Sharon and her assistants who were responsible for the timeous delivery and excellent tasting rolls.

The prize-giving got underway in good time and a big thank you must go to Sid for his contribution to the day in this regard. From his heartfelt tribute to Denis, to the wit and humour he brought to the actual prize-giving, he did a great job. Again, this year, there were many prizes, some awarded to the winners, and others in wacky categories made up on the day. Thanks to all the sponsors who made that possible – you know who you are.

One of the highlights of the prize-giving that must be mentioned was in the “first dog home” category. The dog in question, a Dalmatian (that I believe is deaf!), got up from where he was sitting and walked to the prize-giving table, and this with no prompting from his owner! Co-incidence…………hmm??

So that was the 2009 edition of the Bench2Bench. We hope you all enjoyed the day and would welcome any constructive input you might have that would help to make next year’s event an even better experience.

Finally, thanks to all who participated in whichever way, and we hope to see you all again next year.

Written by John Harding