Despite a yellow weather warning for strong winds and a forecast of rain showers, a contingent of 36 members of Somer AC braved the weather conditions on Sunday, 8th December, to take part in the annual Weston AC ‘Christmas Cracker 10k’ at Weston-super-Mare.

As predicted, the competitors faced some of the most challenging conditions this race has ever seen. Runners faced the full force of the wind whilst running the 7k stretch of beach involved in the 10k route, much of which was directly into the prevailing gale.

As most runners taking part in this race were wearing Christmas-themed fancy dress, this wind proved an even harder obstacle than a normal run, as people battled to contain their costumes as well as run! However, despite the extra weather challenge, all runners battled bravely and made it home, despite many suffering slower times than usual.

First home for the club was Jamie Thomson, in a time of 42.41. Our final club runners arrived home with big smiles on their faces after a gruelling one hour and twenty nine minutes of battling the horrendous conditions, narrowly missing a final rain shower that would have dampened the spirits of even the most determined of athletes.

Special mention must be given of Victoria Ratcliffe, who stormed home in a time of 43.27 to become third lady finisher. Paul Newman was fourth in his age category (MV60) in a time of 49.38, and to prove that you are never too old to run, our veteran, Roy Meredith, ran a fantastic time of one hour fourteen minutes and fifty

nine seconds to become 18th finisher in his MV70+ category. Not bad for a runner who is over eighty years old!