Everybody remarked on the chilliness, but it was a largely sunny morning with typical October temperatures; it was just we’ve been spoilt for the last 5 weeks. A relatively small field of 86 runners turned up for this the first of the Shropshire winter fell series. From the start we laboured up a forest track for about a mile, then into a surprisingly damp field (with the occasional mushroom) and then up to the first summit, followed by a succession of climbs and descents until we got to the tricky, rocky descent where probably only Gary dared to ‘run’ down. This was followed after another summit in an oakwood, by a steep slither on dead leaves and wet leaf mold, where more than one came unstuck. A bit of road then more climbing and woodland paths before we spied the last hill, Rodney’s Pillar, ahead. From there we ran mostly downhill, eventually onto the forest track that took us down to the finish, 11km after the start and some 690m of climb. I was forever expecting Gary to go hurtling past me on the final descent, as last time, but in fact I finished 59th (1.21.38) a couple of minutes and 7 places ahead of Gary (1.23.39). Tom, the third of the Croft musketeers, was 78th (1.31.14), and Croft once again provided the 3 of the 4 oldest runners, being rewarded with 1st MV65 and 1st MV70. At the other end of the spectrum, the race was won by Tim Davies in 56.11.