The day Snow White, a Fairy, Santa, a Bumble Bee, Roberta, Batman & Robin, Rudolf and Banana man beat Brenda ;-)

Heard a lot about this xmas cracker run, especially from Laura, Yvonne & Dave saying what a good laugh it is & that majority wear fancy dress. Thought I'd give it a go - get you in the xmas spirit.

Checked with Dave the night before. Do most people wear fancy dress I asked - yes he confirmed, all types on display. Concerned about the weather when started snowing Saturday evening.

Left house just before 9am Sunday morning - minus 3 degrees according to car. What are we doing. Could still be at home in front of the fire, eating a bacon sandwich & watching Match Of The Day - the mighty Wolves winning again & those has beens Man United & Liverpool losing again. Alex Ferguson will probably complain it was too cold for his overpaid fairies!

Picked Neil & Carolyn up & made our way to Leek - best part of 90 mins drive. Met up with Yvonne, Laura, Dave, Alan, Keith & Dan, with photographic support from Mr Nicholls & Mrs Burt. Very bleak when we got there & had started snowing again. We did wander whether it would be cancelled, especially when Rob Lloyd text to say Telford 10k cancelled. Not saying it was cold or high up, but the Polar Bears & the Penguins had hats, coats, gloves & boots on.

Found out due to good old Health & Safety & the advice of the Mountain Rescue team who are on standby, that due to weather conditions, not safe enough to do the 8 mile route over the Roaches. Instead they made it a 5 mile route around perimeter of Tittesworth Reservoir. A few people were moaning about this, but once you started the race, understand why. We agreed rather have shorter race that went ahead than no race at all.

We got changed into our fancy dress outifts.
Yvonne - Bumble Bee or Wasp - not sure which one. She had borrowed John's football socks.
Dave - Fairy - had not had time to change from his work's xmas do at the Colosseum Night Club, the night before. He was concerned whether he'd laddered his tights.
Laura - Snow White - currently appearing in panto at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Cannock.
Alan - Father Christmas - took it steady as will be very busy delivering pressies on xmas eve.
Keith / Dan - Runners.
Carolyn - Bunny Girl - just finished her shift at Stringfellows in London.
Neil (Brenda)- Transvestite - Rod Stewart legins & Carolyn's size 8 dress. He was worried when the stitching started to come undone as Carolyn needed to wear this again to work tomorrow.
Me - Lady - dress from New Look, size 24, cost £5, something your Granny would be proud to wear in the 50ths. Complete with 2 ballons for a chest. Est size to be 46DD.
Me & Neil looked like the 2 ladies from Little Britten sketch.
A lot of others were wearing outfits.

The race started & after a couple of minutes we had to turn round as we had ran the wrong way. Very slippy under foot, especially when descending over steps. Nice scenary. Would recommend this for a day out, to go for a walk with the dog. A few people ran this as a race, but we all went round to enjoy it. This is what running is all about. Yes you have those fast races, where you go & try to beat your PB, but everyone should try these type of races as well, like Race the Train, Suicide 6. Just forget the time, enjoy the experience & meet new friends. We did one lap of the lake - approx 5 miles.

There were people dressed as nurses, in their pyjamas, superheroes etc. The people we ran round with & had a snowball fight with included:
Wee Willie Winkie - who took photos of his teady bear in the snow.
Someone in a very bad Spiderman costume - tuned out to be Banana Man.
The Milk Tray Man, complete with box of chocolates. Asked at the end why the chocs were unopened - he stated had not seen any women pretty enough to give them to! (His words).

Really enjoyed the whole experience & would do it again. I think I was the first male finisher dressed as a woman, complete with 2 balloons as implants. Forget silicon, balloons are a lot cheaper & easier to change size. Plus they don't move & can be used afterwards.

Went for food & drinks after at the nearest pub at the end of the road. Started to snow again whilst in there, so we didn't stay too long. We had to push Mr Nicholls out of the snow (twice) in the carpark. Bet he'd wished he'd paid for the Quattro option on his Audi A4. No problems with my Alfa, got out of the car park easily. Got home mid afternoon, still very cold.

You must all do this race next year.

Best wishes & a merry christmas to everyone.
Rob Griffith aka Roberta.

additional: Thank you for a fab report Rob or as you will be known from now on Roberta ;-) The suicide 6 and the xmas cracker is always the highlight of the year, as you said its what running is all about - having Fun!

Check out the gallery for a giggle! I will upload additional photos as they are available from the Brian Dale website, I know you all want to see more photos of Brenda and Roberta ;-)

ps Im not sure about your bum Roberta but we did have fun playing with your balloons ;-)