Last weekend, Bristol & West athletes took the mud, embracing the challenge that is the 10 miles of mud presented by the Sodbury Slog. Our thanks to Elaina Gard for the report on how B&W fared.
For another year running, Sodbury Slog did not disappoint.
The views were epic; the pig trough and sheep dip were full, and the crowd were incredible.
Johnny Suttle led Bristol and West right from the start. Up with the front runners and dressed as Sponge Bob, he ran an amazing time of 1:01:30.9 coming home in fifth place. Richard Elston wasn’t far behind in seventh place, in only his second time racing this event beating last year’s finish by four positions. Elston was gaining on sixth but ran out of time and legs so wasn’t able to reel him in. As Elston noted, “this event is much more than the results. It is such a great event and I lost count of the number of people cheering and clapping.”
Right from the beginning, Annabel Granger set off to regain her title from last year. With a £100 cash prize every step was worth the contest. Granger had nothing to worry about. With her amazing talent and years of experience she won with a 4-minute lead. “I love running the race. Every year is different and always a great challenge.”
Following in from Granger, both Catie O’Donoghue and Elaina Gard came home in joint third. O’Donoghue technically taking the win by .4 of a second. The minion pair were meant to be taking it ‘easy’ after racing the previous day, but seconds after over taking a fellow competitor on the hill, marshals informed the girls they were in third and fourth and their competitiveness took over and the last three miles were all about the win.
As a runner, who wouldn’t want a Sodbury Slog entry for their birthday Caroline Buckeridge’s dad was gifted the wonderful race and was dragged round the course and finishing second in his age group. After an incredible race the day before, it didn’t seem to slow Buckeridge down, crossing the line in 37th.
This year Sodbury Slog decided to award the first 4 runners of the team regardless of age or gender. Unfortunately, Bristol and West came second to Bristol University but were proud to be the first both male and female team.
We would like to also congratulate Will Cornelius (77th VM40), Alex Wood (116th SM), Karen Watson (14th VL50) and Connor Jones (161st SM) on their epic racing.