We'd entered for the SE Sprint Champs, being run by SAX at the University of Kent in Canterbury and drove over on a lovely sunny Saturday morning. I'd not been to Canterbury before either (I don't think) so was also looking forward to seeing some of the city.

We got there in plenty of time, in fact it almost seemed just like an SO event, as there didn't seem to be many other clubs represented ! The Sprints were split over two rounds, the total time over both determining the winners. Medals were being awarded to the first three SEOA runners in various categories - we were oth in the M/W 18-40 class.... not much hope for me then !

Round one starts were from 12.00 and the courses were planned to take us around the nothern and western areas of the map, through a lot of buildings (halls of residence etc). There was plenty of opportunity to easily lose contact with the map and not be able to find yourself again. The courses were planned well, with a good mixture of short and longer legs and plenty of changes in direction. Again, I noticed my lack of fitness, short legs were ok, longer were a bit tough. There were no real navigation errors though, just a few route choices maybe were not the best !

I finished round one 6th overall in W18-40 in a time of 22.33. I had beaten Les again though !

Round two starts were from 15.30 and the fastest runners from round 1 went off last, not a true chasing start as there was a minute's gap between all starters. Inbetween the rounds we all vegged out in the sun and relaxed. Round two started going to the south, then east and finally round the north eastern part of the map. I started off ok to number one, then made a bit of a big mistake to number two which cost me loads of time. I continued, although was feeling it adn my legs were feeling it quite a bit having run quite well in round one ! I finished much lower in round two in a time of 25.49.

We stayed for the prizegiving as we thought there were a number of SO members about to receive medals. I was very shocked to hear my name called out in third place on W18-40... I certainly wasn't expecting it !! Julia was first, it was because there were two others ahead who we knew were not from SEOA clubs, but there was one other we thought was. We heard someone talking as we left, for some reason they weren't recognised as an SEOA member, although running for an SEOA club.

I was very happy !! Then we drove into Canterbury to find our hotel. I'd booked the Best Western as it was one of the only hotels available. It looked nice outside and our room was in the older gothic part of the building. It was a lovely big room !! The bathroom was hidden away in what looked like a cupboard to start with and was also really large. The shower was fantastic. We had a shower, then walked down into the City to meet Mum & Dad for dinner. We looked at the Catherdral briefly, then walked round looking for a nice pub to eat in. We found the Old Brewery Tavern, which looked good so went in.

It wasn't that busy either, compared to some of the places we'd seen in the mainly shopping areas. We had a really nice meal together then wandered back to our respective hotels.