Stubbington Green Runners & AC

Yes all you handicap race addicts, time for an Autumnal feast of dubious directions, dodgy woodland paths, mud, more mud, dangerous dogs and slippery shingle. Yep – time for the SEPTEMBER FISH N CHIP HANDICAP!! 10k of RR10 style cross country running around Warsash Common and Solent Breezes. The handicap will be held on Wednesday 15^th Sept 10 starting and finishing at the Warsash Sailing Club (WSC) barrier on the footpath to the left of the Rising Sun pub.

The usual handicap rules apply – no maps, instructions, sat nav or watches are allowed, you can start when you want, and you must follow the route outlined below, making sure that you do not take any short cuts along the way! A recce or 2 is essential for this course which is cleverly designed to lose as many people as possible (we have a sweepstake running on this!!). The winner will be the runner who finishes closest to 7.30 pm.

Since all this running will make you feel peckish, after the run there will be a fish & chip supper laid on at a cost of a mere £4.50 per head with the winning male and female eating free! (for Northerners (Andy Simpson) Pie and Chips is an option!). Please pay on the night but we must know exact numbers this time though so please email or call Tim Sullivan (tim.sullivan@sky.com / 0789 6613962) by 8th Sept 10 if you would like some fine English cuisine – otherwise NO NAME NO GRUB!

If you just want to run but not stuff yourself with all those unhealthy chips, the cost is a mere £1 per head to cover this handicap and future events.

Anyway - the route!

• From the WSC barrier, head towards the Hamble river mouth along the coastal path
• Just after you pass the Warsash Maritime College you will come to a wooden barrier. Turn left (inland),
• Follow the footpath as it winds round the Warsash College (to your left). When you reach Newtown Road, turn right and continue along Hook Park Road.
• After about 400m and when running up a slight hill, turn left onto the footpath/ gravel track at ‘Bridge House’.
• Follow the path into Hook with Warsash Nature Reserve and follow the path through the woods which initially bears left.
• Eventually the path takes you to a wooden gate. Go through the gate and onto a main path, turn left and head downhill,
• This track soon goes steeply uphill with woods either side.
• At the top of the hill you’ll join a road (Church Road) with St Mary’s church on your right. Go past the church and stay on the right side pavement for about ¼ mile.
• Just past the school on the left and a bus stop / shelter on the right, take the footpath on the right which is just before you reach house no. 27.
• This short footpath opens onto the residential Elderdale Close; follow the road round and then turn left into Spruce Close.
• At the bottom of Spruce Close, join a short footpath (15m) which ends at a barrier and T junction with a rough path.
• Turn left at the T junction, run along the path for about 50m then turn right and go down the steps and along a woodland path.
• Run along the path until it joins a road (Dibbles Road) and turn right.
• Run along the road for about 50m then turn right through the gate into Warsash Common, (there’ll be a huge ‘Warsash Common notice board and map in front of you).
• Keep to the path to the left of the Warsash Common board and follow it through the woods and over boardwalks until you get to a T junction with a track, (you’ll also see a metal gate in front of you).
• Turn right at the T junction which goes slightly downhill.
• Follow this track as it winds its way through woods, over a wooden bridge then almost back on itself and then up a slight hill.
• At the top of the hill you’ll see a wooden post on your left with red arrows on it (pointy ones not the aircraft!)
• Take a sharp left to follow the red arrowed path down a flight of steps and onto a narrow path.
• After a short distance you will pass under a large black pipe; at the wooden post just after this turn right and follow the track through the woods. Eventually this descends onto a boardwalk followed by a long flight of steep steps, (have fun!).
• At the top of the steps keep going to the junction with another boardwalk then turn right along the boardwalk which circles around the open area of Warsash Common.
• When you see some low wooden posts running along the right side of the track, just about when you reach the last one go straight on to the metal gate ahead.
• Go through the gate and (at the Warsash Common notice board) turn right.
• Just after jumping over the bridleway low barrier, go through the metal kissing gate on the right and take the footpath.
• Keep on the main footpath (ignoring lots of little ones coming off) until you reach a main road (Fleet End Road).
• Turn right on the road, run for about 100m until you reach a national speed limit sign and a footpath sign on your right. Take this woodland footpath and keep going until you eventually pass between some very nice houses and reach a gravelled track.
• At the path / track junction, turn right. You are now on the track that leads onto Hook Park Road.
• Head westwards along the track until you reach the Hook Park Road / Cowes Lane junction. Turn left into Cowes Lane, follow it to the end then take the footpath which winds round until reaching the seafront.
• Turn right when you reach the beach and from here run all the way back the Warsash on the coastal path, first along the beach then the riverside path to the finish (follow the smell of fish n chips if you’re lost!!). Tim Sullivan.