Valley Dash Results 2018

An overcast, but thankfully dry, late summer evening  saw 38 intrepid Harriers take on the  individual club handicap – The Valley Dash – a challenging 7.25 kilometre  circuit, featuring a combination of road, hill and trail racing.

The hill section of the course pretty much begins from the start, which some runners struggle with, not having the benefit of a chance to warm up. However, this did not worry this years winner Paul Marcak, who moved steadily through the field finally taking the lead just inside the last kilometre and improving on his 2017 performance by 2 and a half minutes. Second home and finishing strongly came Stephen McDowell. He was closely followed by 3rd place and first woman, Dawn McManus.

The results overall caught out an over optimistic handicapper, with twice as many runners (26) being slower than their predicted time versus only 11 faster.

Worst handicap of the evening was given to last years winner, James Wales. That said, it would have been difficult for anyone to predict such a spectacular fall from grace. Particularly given the glowing reports received from his peer group!!!

Unavoidable absentee Stewart McAllister also lost his ‘Most Impressive Chunder On Crossing The Line’ crown to Murray McDonald. Great effort Murray!

5 Runners were within 5 second of their prediction but this years award for being closest went to Mike Corson who was 1 second slower than target. Lots of room for improvement there Mike!

Our commiserations go to Stephanie Dale who suffered an ankle injury and couldn’t finish. Hopefully nothing serious Stephanie and you will be back running soon.

Fastest man on the night was Richard Mair and fastest woman home was Laura Haggerty.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make it a successful night.

Full results are here :- Valley Dash 2018 Race Results