The final hill in Parson's Close saw on Wednesday saw a fierce battle between most of the leading contenders in the 2014/15 Stag Trophy scrapping it out for PB's and points.

Prior to the start of the race it had already been determined that only two people could take the 2014/15 title, with Sam Sicknote Dear having withdrawn due to man-flu and merely playing a spectator role on the night. This meant that it was a straight battle between club captain James Bell and his Monday night protégé David Killick. In all honesty it needed a tremendous run from James and a bad run from David for the positions to be changed, but this has certainly happened a few times before.

It's difficult to comment on how the race went in the main as your author didn't see anyone until the final 600m and even then they were in the distance, but the below is the version I have drawn from the results!

Firstly it should be said that we had three people new to the Stag taking part which is great to see, but with the difficulty in predicting their handicaps they were the first three to finish on the night. Katie Stanton was given a three-hour sell of the club by Kate Johnson during the MK20 last month and she finished more than a minute ahead of Dom Grimshaw. Most people know Dom, but as he's now in the U13's he stepped up to his first Stag and cruised around in 16:28. Dom finished a few seconds ahead of fellow U13 Scott Towell, whose time of 17:10 should be a good platform for next season. It was decided that these three wouldn't be awarded points, but will be fully included in October.

It was a very competitive final stretch as the first seven scorers staggered over the line in 14 seconds. No-one will ever know whether Nick Clay could have closed down the 2 second gap on wife Mandy but the fact that she ran a PB and he ran is fastest time for a few years suggests that there was something of a battle going on! The result though is that Mandy took her third 25 points of the season from just five races!

Third home on the night was Mark Haynes who earned the second of six PB's on the night with 17:21. It was the race behind Mark that was really interesting as James Bell dipped for the line to finish a fraction ahead of rival David while Jordan Clay, gunning for a sub-13 minute time, was barely a step behind them. All three achieved new PB's to crown an excellent season for each of them although Jordan ran bang on 13 minutes. Additionally, Dan Webb was just four seconds behind them in running his fastest time for four years. There was one more PB on the night with Caroline Mann running ten seconds quicker than her debut in March.

The result of all these efforts is that David did indeed take a much deserved Stag title, having run six PB's in seven races this season and totalled 109 points. However, with James overtaking him on the line in the final race, that one extra point put him clear of Mandy Clay in the silver medal position on 105 with Mandy closing on 104.

So a final congratulations to David who will receive his trophy at the annual dinner on the 1st May. There is now just one more award up for grabs and this is the "Christmas handicap" that now takes place on Easter Monday at 11am. It would be great to have a good turn out at Leighton Town FC.

The full results and lots of lists of PB's and history are all available on the Stag Trophy page of the website so please have  look through and set your sights for next winter. You've got five months of running in the glorious summer sunshine before 7th October is upon you!