Race Date: Saturday 25 October 2025
With cross country at Longley Park the following day this event was never on the agenda. But then …. a call from Chris Ireland. Having done well here previously, both he and Jed Turner were keen to compete and whilst they had somebody better he couldn’t guarantee that he would be able to make it and they might need another M65 who owns a pair of spikes. A scarce commodity it would seem. The final call up on the Thursday was timely as the grandchildren were having a Halloween Party that Saturday afternoon but racing trumps everything except weddings and funerals. Success.
Instant karma. The car park at West Park leisure centre was quite busy but there’s a big car park right next door. Except, returning to get ready after picking up numbers, the gates had been locked. Evidently it was only open for the Parkrun earlier that morning. No time to sort it out as there was a warm up to do and a race to be run but the anxiety was palpable.
West Park is pancake flat but is completely surrounded by an steep embankment. On the day conditions underfoot were bone dry but a little bit of investigation reveals why the 3km course has been a quagmire in previous years. “West Park in Long Eaton acts as a flood defence by functioning as a large flood storage area, designed to hold floodwater from the Golden Brook to protect the town. It has a surrounding berm (a type of embankment) and can hold up to 65 million gallons of water.” Obviously the course took in the bank several times with jokes about needing a Stannah stairlift to negotiate it with the descent posing the greatest challenge.
As with the South Yorkshire League, M65’s etc race with the women with the rest of the men racing later. Dot ran first leg for the ladies coming home second with the positions not changing after that. Dot normally beats me easily at races but, only a second ahead, she explained that she still had a half marathon in her legs after racing for England in Madeira last week. Not that bad as she was still second fastest on the day. The same would also apply to Louise on third leg. Look out for the Madeira race report. This was an excellent result considering that they are all top of age group.
Vet Women Over 65
| Leg | Name | Time | Posn |
| Leg A | Dot Kesterton | 14:34 | 2 |
| Leg B | Carol Beattie | 17:17 | 2 |
| Leg C | Louise Rowley | 15:37 | 2 |
| Final | Steel City Striders | 47:28 | 2 |
Dot ran the second fastest leg. Three complete teams.
More bling for the ladies and Steel City Striders. Someone will have to tot up what these three have actually won in the past.
Vet Men Over 65
The strategy for the men was to put the weakest man on first leg giving the other two a target to aim for. Half way round, well it seemed like half way as the start button on the watch had been missed in all the excitement, thoughts drifted towards having to race at Longley Park the following day. Such distractions were quickly put aside – only ever do one session at a time. Starting in seventh place both Chris and Jed needed to run well and running the two quickest times on the day Jed eventually finished a minute ahead of Warrington. There were seven complete M65 teams.
| Leg | Name | Time | Posn |
| Leg A | Peter Brown | 14:45 | 7 |
| Leg B | Chris Ireland | 12:43 | 3 |
| Leg C | Jed Turner | 11:45 | 1 |
| Final | Steel City Striders | 39:03 | 1 |
This race also doubled as the Midlands Masters Championships as evident in the results BMAF Cross Country Relays 2025
And the car? There was a gaggle of rather grumpy old people in the car park but after a phone call to the Leisure Centre a very nice young man opened the main gate thus enabling our escape but don’t do it again.
A motley crew. L-R Jed, Carol, Louise, Dot, Chris, Peter