7th August 2024

A Wednesday Summer’s evening visit to the pleasant surroundings of Braithwell for the next race in the Striders Trail Race Championships, the well organised 4 mile ish Butchers Dog Leg Race hosted by Maltby Running Club.

A warm pre race registration welcome at the Butcher’s Arms pub and confirmation of runners post race chip butty as I handed over the 6 quid entry.

Going through my warm up routine, I chatted to some fellow runners and felt a sense of satisfaction and personal closure when encountering the athlete who openly admitted responsibility (complete with guilt) for taking the front end runners on a wrong turn through t’woods during the previous weeks Scholes Coppice race, oh how we laughed 🙂

A fast starting race on a downhill lane before turning and a brief undulation, runners then moved onto trail and through fields for the first 2km ish. There follwed a double turn onto flat road and footpath for a slight downhill and faster middle section of the race toward Stainton. Runners then turned off concrete back to trail for a steady straight lung expanding incline at 4-5 kilometres. We then retraced our steps back through the first field of the race and onto the now uphill country lane towards the finish line, thus completing our race loop. Lungs at capacity, I found myself in a tit for tat battle with a couple of runners, each of us passing and overtaking to provide an entertaining finale, I crossed the finish line and collapsed onto a well mowed grassed front lawn of a corner bungalow.

Thereafter, in the Butcher’s Arms beer garden, followed a most efficient post race chip butty distribution operation one has witnessed, an impressive 3 person production line. Then a brief chat amongst Striders over post race drinks followed by the prize winners presentation. Not even the top falling off the vinegar bottle over aforementioned chips could have tainted this enjoyable evening. A nice little race that I’ll make the effort to return for in future, thank you all involved.

Some strong overall Striders placings and category finishes on the night, well done everyone!

Striders results