Jonathan's 2010 Race Report:
Eddie O'Gorman cut a lonely, mud-splattered figure as he stormed towards the finish of the Hardwick X-Stream cross country race on Sunday. But the Chiltern Harrier wasn't complaining. With his nearest challenger barely visible in the distance, O'Gorman had once again dished out a masterclass in off road running and scooped his second successive victory over the challenging six-mile course at the same time. Aylesbury's Bearbrook Joggers running club and Whitchurch Cricket Club organised Sunday's race that takes competitors around a tricky course in the confines of Manor House Farm in Hardwick village. The route for the 17th running of the Up & Running Aylesbury and Storm Records-supported race included four river crossings, running around muddy ploughed fields, across wet grassland and along farm tracks. O'Gorman wasn't perturbed by the wetter-than-usual conditions underfoot though, and his finishing time of 34m 47s was almost two minutes faster that his club colleague Thomas Beedell could manage as he was soundly beaten into second place. "I've done Hardwick six or seven times but today's race was definitely the muddiest I've ever experienced," O'Gorman admitted. "The conditions made it tough but I'm in good shape at the moment thanks to all the training I'm doing for the London Marathon and I always enjoy competing at Hardwick because it's a classic cross country event." Ross Langley fought hard to take third place in a time of 37m 32s for Tring Running Club and he was some distance ahead of fourth-place man, James Hague who completed the course in 39m 00s. The top-six places were rounded out by Vale of Aylesbury's Andrew Rolt who was 12 seconds further behind in his distinctive 'Wally Man' fancy dress costume, while Owen Byrne was the first Bearbrook Jogger to reach the finish line in 39m 41s. Slightly further back, Sara Luck headed the Senior Ladies field at the finish. The talented Havering Mayesbrook athlete scored a time of 41m 14s to place her more than three minutes ahead of second placed Connie MacMillan of Banbury Harriers. Sarah Hill of Tring Running Club tried hard to snatch MacMillan's placing of 33rd overall but ultimately finished 20 seconds shy of her rival in 45m 04s. As well as lots of individual battles for position up and down the large field, there were also a number of important category and team prizes up for grabs. Heading the list of category winners was Andrew Rolt whose fifth-place performance ensured he took the spoils in the Male Vet 40 category, while Mike Bradley of Watford Harriers rolled back the years to impressively take the Male Vet 50 honours in 43m 21s - a time that was good enough to place him 21st overall. Also putting on an impressive show and scooping the Male Vet 60 prize was Geoffrey Smith of Banbury Harriers who finished 72nd overall in 48m 57s. In the Ladies age categories, Maryvonne Hassall secured the Female Vet 35 honours in 51m 12s, while the Female Vet 45 prize went home with Susan Davies of Croft Ambrey Running Club. Her finishing time of 46m 45s meant she finished 52nd overall. In the teams' categories, the blistering combined performance of race winner Eddie O'Gorman, second-placed Thomas Beedell, eighth-place Simon Beedell and Andrew Redington in 17th meant Chiltern Harriers walked away with the Men's team prize, while Bearbrook Joggers scooped the Ladies team prize, thanks to the combined pace of Linda Huxley, Helen Mulhall, Sandy Ridgeway and 15-year-old Josie Hassall who endured a tough first appearance at Hardwick but gave her all to finish 215th in 1h 06m 07s. A total of 239 runners made it to the finish of the 2010 Hardwick X-Stream race, with only two entrants dropping out on the course.

Results 1 Eddie O'Gorman 34m 47s; 2 Thomas Beedell 36m 37s; 3 Ross Langley 37m 32s; 4 James Hague 39m 00s; 5 Andrew Rolt 39m 12s; 6 Owen Byrne 39m 41s; 7 Gregory O'Callaghan 40m 37s; 8 Simon Beedell 40m 41s; 9 Sara Luck 41m 14s; 10 Jamie Reed 41m 26s; 11 Clive Daniels 41m 33s; 12 Shaun O'Gorman 41m 51s; 13 Ross Cameron 41m 56s; 14 Simon Barnett 42m 03s; 15 Simon Haywood 42m 06s; 16 Mark Hadaway 42m 20s; 17 Andrew Redington 42m 35s; 18 David Rankin 42m 41s; 19 Michael Kelly 42m 46s; 20 Nick Mauger 43m 01s; 21 Mike Bradley 43m 21s; 22 Tom Blount 43m 23s; 23 Toby O'Callaghan 43m 28s; 24 Dermot Martin 43m 36s; 25 Bruce Lawton 43m 48s; 26 Steve Noble 44m 03s; 27 Mark Emmett 44m 06s; 28 Mark Kennedy 44m 30s; 29 Trevor Lark 44m 33s; 30 Jon Balaam 44m 34s; 31 Jeff Ryan 44m 42s; 32 Geoff Southam 44m 34s; 33 Connie MacMillan 44m 44s; 34 Sarah Hill 45m 04s; 35 Thomas North 45m 16s; 36 Richard Foskett 45m 21s; 37 Matt Gurney 45m 28s; 38 Ed Clemens 45m 30s; 39 Kevin Hennessy 45m 34s; 40 Mark Clayton 45m 41s; 41 Paul Gregory 45m 45s; 42 Colin Jeffs 45m 48s; 43 Josef Rivers 45m 51s; 44 Geoff Head 45m 52s; 45 Mark Paviour 45m 56s; 46 Simon Allen 45m 58s; 47 Sebastian Parris 46m 04s; 48 Alan Wright 46m 18s; 49 Kim Crawford 46m 23s; 50 Mike Lemon 46m 27s.