Westbury Women tougher then Men at the 2012 Man v Horse Marathon

The tables were turned on the men at this year's Man v. Horse marathon as 5 ladies tackled the full course at this, the 33rd running of the great man v. horse event! Unfortunately only two of the club's men were able to tackle the full course, as injuries robbed the team of the services of Matt Ellis, Rich Collinson and John Terry. This left Anthony Glover to drop down to the relay, which he ran with two school friends from Northern Ireland, and he didn't disappoint arriving at the first changeover point in first place in the relay race (although behind two individuals running the whole thing!) Also in the relay event, Karl Dunn, Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr and Robin Phillips teamed up to good effect and finished 4th, with Robin rapidly closing down on 3rd come the finish!

Back to the main race, and leading the club home was Emma D'Alton who in her first attempt at the course finished 3rd lady in a time of 3.01.54, enough for 17th overall. Kevin Knights was next home in a time of 3.20.09 for 49th place. Then we had Shona Mackie 67th in a time of 3.25.38, Graham Bazley in 3.56.30, Linda O'Shaugnessy 4.07.12, Jane Goodwin in 4.12.02 and Jane Thornton in 4.38.40. Unfortunately for the club Emma was not listed as Westbury Harriers as the ladies would surely have made the top 3 teams if so!

The top end of the race was a who's who of Man v. Horse with 3 former prize winners in the top 5. The winner was Huw Lobb, who repeated his 2004 triumph, although this time finishing some 20 minutes behind the horse and so there was no cash bonus for Huw this time round. John McFarlane and Mark Palmer, also both former winners, were 4th and 5th. With Mark Croasdale - another man v horse veteran doing the prizes and William Hill once again sponsoring the event, it seemed that the event rolled back the years with another highly successful race, defying the gloomy weather forecasts!

The Happy Harriers post race party - 20 members and their friends celebrated in the heart of Wales in Britain's smallest town, Llanwrtyd Wells!

The men's team will I'm sure bounce back and make sure that next year's 34th running of the event will see a return of Westbury dominance!