Last weekend was ETL's Denbies 10 mile race. Amanda was still suffering from a really nasty cold, and for an asthmatic, that's a lot more serious than you might otherwise think. I asked if she'd like to marshall and she said yes, but if she was well enough to marshall she'd be well enough to race :-(  Her mother and I both insisted that she think of the longer term and didn't push herself stupidly, so reluctantly she saw reason.

Well, when I say 'reason', you all know Amanda...

So this weekend we did our own race! Amanda had arranged with Nicky (Ms ETL for those who don't know) that she could have the T-shirt for the race if she did her own version, and it has to be said that this year's is a particularly good one, so game on!


As I think all of you will know, this is a bit like the start of a Denbies race, but not a lot.


She's off! Fortunately this was an ETL race, not a Trionium one, so she didn't have to sing the National Anthem first. No offence Rob, but this is a good thing under the circumstances.


Around and around she goes...


So here I am at the top of Ranmore Common. I hope Amanda is going to emerge from the murk at some point...


Hmm... Horse riders where I expect to see her. Pretty girl says to me, "That's a big lens! What are you photographing?" and I perhaps blow my chances by admitting it's my wife I'm waiting for...


"Hey, stop flirting with her, I'm over here!"

Sorry darling, but you chose not to come through the mud where I was waiting. [Yeah, ok, apparently Nicky had said they might adjust the route to avoid that particular muddy bit, but I wasn't to know. Besides, I wouldn't want to have been rude to horse-riding girlies.)


St John's Church, Wooton. The next major landmark on the route.


And here's Amanda!

Err, ok, maybe not....

My phone rings: "Help, I'm completely lost!"

Oh well... With some effort, we get her back onto the route, albeit in the wrong direction,,,


Back the right way again...

For your enlightenment: she basically missed out the outward loop and did the return part twice in both directions. It should be emphasised that this was not a short cut!


Aha, Balchins Lane: this is where she's supposed to be!


And back at Ranmore. She's again made a slight mistake (see above) but nothing serious.


The Denbies vineyard finish. If only the real races still ended here, it would be so perfect.



But here we are, the actual finish (of the non-actual race).


Take a bow!

Love to you all,

Steve.

[PS Nicky, I'll send you a web version you can directly copy onto the ETL website.]