It's the first races of the cross country season so I thought I would highlight a number of races on the horizon.

1. NWSCCL race 1 - Sunday 30th October 10am Clarke Gardens Liverpool

This is the first main race of our season. The race is approximately 4.5 to 5 miles through the park, mud and woods of Clarke Gardens. It is a fun race and a good introduction to cross country and is suitable for all abilities. The race is not measured or timed and men and ladies run together in one race. Points are awarded depending on finishing position. In terms of footwear, the race is most suitable to cross country spikes, fell shoes or trail shoes. Road shoes are probably not suitable for this race unless it is really dry as some of the paths can be rather muddy (i.e. do you want to be like Bambi on ice?) After the race we always have sandwiches and biscuits at a convenient venue and (if you're lucky) a hot shower about a mile away!

We would like to get as many Striders there as possible. You do not need to pre-enter; you just need to turn up on the day with your club vest. However it would assist if you would let Julian or Liz know if you are intending to come so that we have an idea of numbers as we need to ensure that we have a full ladies and men's team.

This is a good cross country race to start with as it is one of the easier races and great for spectators. Can we have lots of support this year?

2. Liverpool and District League race 1 - 2pm on Saturday 29th October, Beacon Park, north of Up Holland and near Ashurst Beacon

This Liverpool and District League race is the day before the first Sunday league race. We are more competitive as a Club in the Sunday league hence we target this as first choice to compete in. You are, however, very welcome to run this as well, but as we want to do as well as possible in the Sunday race we prefer to see the strongest team to run on Sunday and only those gluttons for extra punishment who run Saturday as well. NB There are also no sandwiches and showers after the Saturday race.