Race Report: The National XC Relays - Berry Hill Saturday 1st November

Thanks to KADS chair Ryan for this report from the 2025 National Cross Country Championship.

The one where we pitched the tent in dog turd, Eve put me and Dom in a compromising position and the debate continues about how many KADS does it take to pitch and dismantle a tent. The rest of those stories will remain in the NSFW version ;)! 

For me the National XC relays is the pinnacle club event of the year. The one where we get to represent the club in a national event and take on the very best athletes. For me I was very lucky many years ago when the then club captain Dale Mellor introduced me to the XC relays and this year was my fifth occasion representing the club at Berry Hill. A venue I love to hate (many years ago we raced 3 times here in about 6 weeks and to this day one of those events ranks as the funniest time I’ve had at a race). 

The aim today was to get on the front of that start line amongst the big boys. Unfortunately, with 5 mins to go before the start of the race I was up at the tent, oblivious to the fact the race started at 1440 and not 1450! I quickly ran down to find all the bigger boys were standing around the starting funnel and I was unable to elbow my way through. Thankfully I was accompanied by Robin and we had a quick chat about tactics deciding it would be foolish to take on the big boys. The likes of Holme Pierrepont and Beeston runners were also lingering about and the local clubs had a quick chat before heading to the start line.

It’s at this moment I always say a quick prayer to the big man and think about tactics. I swear by the Mike Tyson mantra that ‘everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face’ or in this case ‘the gun goes off.’ The first bit of this course always feels a slog heading down towards and around the lake before disappearing up into the woods. Elevation wise it’s not a massive incline but always enough to feel it. This year we had the added bonus of a double log jump under the Sportsshoes arch before a bigger log jump later on. Some people got good photos, others didn’t (myself included!). There was a slight course change this year which took out the slog up to the top of the woods however meant we did a lap around the field where the wind buffeted you at every turn. Once lap 1 was completed, we got the chance to do it all over again. 

The support of the crowd in various places on this course, particular through the woods is brilliant. The race didn’t quite go to plan for me. I was hoping for a sub 20 but given I had a cold I’ll take the 20:33. I was also quite disappointed to lose a couple of places in the last half mile, in particular to the HP runner (I did get my revenge at the next XC event!) 

As ever it was an honour to lead out a KADS team consisting of myself, veterans Dan Bailey and Liam Johnson and brought home in fine style by debutant Joe Timson. We also had another men's team and ladies team who all ran brilliantly. 

After the run came the tent dismantling. I think the final figure was 6. 6 KADS to dismantle a tent. And then there it was, underneath the floor of the tent, the offending dog turd was found. The only turd in the vicinity and we managed to pitch our tent on it. FFS.