THE final club championship race of 2015 for Chepstow Harriers was the Merthyr Mawr Christmas Pudding race on Sunday 13th December.

28 Harriers turned out for the six mile multi-terrain race near Bridgend, and the women won the team prize. Over 600 competitors took part in this challenging race which started with a huge steep climb up a sand dune. Those hoping for a good time had to blast up to the top before the bottleneck on the steep, narrow descent. As well as the brutal sand dune, the course had plenty of muddy fields, stream crossings and energy sapping, sandy trails.

To add to the excitement, some competitors were also charged by horses, who had escaped into a field. Fortunately all competitors made it safely to the finish.

Steve Ovett is just one of the legendary athletes who have used the sand dunes at Merthyr Mawr as a base for his training. The highest dune in Europe, known as ‘the Big Dipper’ was the start of the pudding race.

Paul Murrin was Chepstow’s first finisher, coming in seventh place out of 622 runners. He also picked up the first male veteran over 40 award. Chepstow’s women in the winning team were Niki Morgan, Sarah Bell and Lisa Jeffrey.

The race is incredibly popular in South Wales and had sold out within 30 minutes of entries opening. It was a fun, festive end to Chepstow Harriers 2015 club championship. Husband and wife team Paul and Joc Dodd achieved the highest age-graded scoring of all Chepstow Harriers in the pudding race.