Black Dogs prepare for London

RUNNING up a steep hill from Wymondham to Wicklewood against an extra strong wind is not everyone's idea of Sunday morning entertainment.

However, on this sunny but blustery day, four Bungay Black Dogs took part with a field of 263 finishers in the Wymondham 20 miler.

This is a popular race, used by many runners as preparation for the London Marathon on April 26 and also our very own Bungay Black Dog Marathon the week before.

The first of the Bungay runners to finish was Chris Chorley in 2-45:46 (115th) A fantastic performance, bearing in mind that on the day before he had competed in the Clumber Park Duathlon. A run of 10k followed by a 40k cycle ride and finishing with a mere 5k run.

Bobbie Sauerzapf, came home in an excellent time of 2-55:02 (152nd), and took second in the FV50 category.

Sue Potter, training for the Bungay Marathon achieved her target with a time of 3-39:19 (253rd) and bringing up the rear was the intrepid Bob Jack who pulled a muscle at 10 miles, but hobbled home in 4-18:17.

On a dry and mild day, the previous Sunday, Black Dog, ultra runner, Bob Jack took part in the Cambridge Boundary Run half marathon. This race resurrected, a few years ago, from the 1940s is organised by Cambridge University Hare and Hounds, one of the oldest running clubs in the UK, founded in 1880. The relatively flat, race follows the medieval boundaries of Cambridge, through pretty villages, fields and woodlands.

There is also the option of a full marathon, but Bob has a full schedule of long distance races over the next few months, culminating in the South African, Kalahari Augrabies in October. He will run 250km (155 miles) across the Kalahari Desert for seven days, carrying his kit. Treating this as a training run, Bob finished in 2-29:51 being 301st out of 309 finishers.