16th November 2025 – RACE REPORT BY NARNI FULFORD
Thank chuff we’ve seen the back of storm Claudia I muttered to myself, as Bailey and I shuttled towards Penistone this fine Sunday morning. Jolene was hungover, Bailey was cold, Narni was busy dossing about, and only Nicola and Nick were in fine form. No matter; the SRC massive crew prevailed. As we arrived to the venue all we could see were club flags and marquees; we quickly agreed that we absolutely needed a tent to act as base camp for the next race in the XC series, and plans are already in hand to festoon said tent with a disco ball and fairy lights. If we can’t be the quickest, we will absolutely be the most fun.
The ladies went first, with 4 of us charging off up Penistone Show Ground, looping around Rud Broom Lane, and climbing back up and over towards Tesco. Laps 2 and 3 took us past Stottercliffe Cemetery, but by the time we had familiarised ourselves with the route we were on course to finish: women having to do 6.4km and the men having to do 10km. So much for gender equality. Happily the course wasn’t as waterlogged as we feared it may be; a couple of wild slip and slides but no-one managed to stack it spectacularly.
A stranger admonished Narni at the end for forgoing her usual glitter (must try harder), and we were shooed away from the finishing funnel for generally being too hilarious and distracting the counters from recording the finishing order of runners. Having stopped the cold was quickly setting in, and we tootled promptly back to the cars for hot baths and slap up Sunday dinners. See you at the 4th XC instalment; Graves Park.
