Where Buntingford, Herts
When December 27, 2005
First Man Andrew Gardiner 53:11
First Woman Karen Hazlitt 1:01:23
Last Finisher 2:04:07
No. of finishers 435
Usually, it's the competitors that can't sleep the night before a race, but before this year's Buntingford 10 it was the race director, Richard Dajda from Royston Runners, who suffered most. He received a flurry of frantic phone calls from runners, following forecasts of heavy snow.
The anticipated blizzard didn't arrive, but the snow that did fall caused a problem at the start: despite having been warned that it would take 10-15 minutes to walk from the race HQ to the start line, some runners couldn't face leaving the warm. The race started on time to save the shivering throng already at the start, so some less-than-hardy souls were a few minutes late crossing the line.
Times weren't necessarily at the top of the agenda, though. For many, it was a chance to burn off some Christmas calories, aided by the undulating route which, after a couple of miles around a housing estate, headed out on to country lanes and through the villages of Westmill and Aspenden.
The race marshals were commended for their surprisingly high spirits - if there's one thing worse than running in snow, it must be standing around in it.
The race had a record turnout this year and, despite their physical discomfort, most runners seemed to enjoy it enough to want to brave the elements again in future.
