Christmas festivities make the return hard

For one Sunday of the year there was no ORC run last weekend as members took advantage of the sleep in and celebrated Christmas with their families and friends.

And so it was that the few dedicated (or guilty?) runners who turned up on Wednesday afternoon for the handicap 3km run found it a bit of a struggle. The heavens were obviously intent on making members efforts just that little bit tougher, and the punishment for indulging in that extra piece of pudding was to run the 3km in torrential rain. I don’t know whether it was the ham, pudding or the rain, but very few PBs were recorded as a result. My little mate Hugh Daintith was intent on not letting his father or brother have all the limelight, finishing with a PB of 24 seconds. Hugh may in fact be a grey horse as he runs so well in the wet, and was the handicap winner. Although claiming to have enjoyed a very indulgent Christmas day, (not together mind you) Stu Vidler and Martin Ryan still managed to fly around the track, Stu even having the energy to discuss his NYE plans as he passed this runner.

Kim Jarvis may have run more than the 3km, intent as she was on maintaining the cleanliness of her ever white sneakers, although avoiding the puddles was impossible once the heavy rain started.

Kimmy already seems to have taken the lead in the most consistent runner stakes, with Tom Gleeson nowhere to be seen in the last few weeks.

While making the effort to attend Wednesday’s run, some runners just couldn’t face taking the plunge into the torrential rain, with a few spotted huddling under the toilet block shed while those who had taken off earlier ran past, and completed their 3 laps.

Others began the run, only to take cover in the willow trees once the heavy rain began.

The rain did not deter some visitors to Orange who took part in the run. Sally Kitto’s sister and brother-in-law took up the 3km challenge and the handicap set by Joel ‘the Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ Kitto, fresh off their recent Canberra Half Ironman achievements.

Unfortunately not all times were recorded on Wednesday, as Michael ‘the Sorcerer’ Sharp is on holidays and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and his offsider found it difficult to produce the magical results in the wet conditions.

There is one more run for 2011, with Sunday’s run at Elephant Park a chance for members to redeem themselves from the New Years Eve celebrations tonight.

Sunday’s run – the Elephant Park new run (Endeavour Oval) – starts at 9am and runners can burn off that champagne with a 2.6, 5.2 or a 7.8km run.