Athletes compete in West Acre Wild 10k

A small core organising team gathered in West Acre on Sunday in almost perfect autumn weather conditions to greet runners to this year’s West Acre Wild 10k.The event follows a ‘wilded’ route through the beautiful rolling West Norfolk countryside.Local farmer Alex Birbeck, who is a keen advocate of rewilding and having already completed a large area of rewilding, once again hosted this most unusual of races, with its numerous obstacles, from a straw tunnel to a bale climbs for runners to negotiate, with the last stretch taking them through the well-known and popular West Acre fords.As the course, which starts and finishes at the The Stag village pub, follows a route along existing bridle and woodland paths and is more of a cross-country than a road race, with the various obstacles on the route making it unique in the local running event calendar.This year saw an even greater take-up for the event, with runners signing up from across the county.Club runners ranged from our Ryston Runners and Gayton Runners to the Huffers and Puffers, together with a large group of runners with dogs, including a contingent from the Sandringham Barkrun Cairncross dog runners’ group.The small core event team responsible for the event management were supported by a large number of excellent volunteer marshals from the local running community, who helped to ensure no one got lost on the way round and all those attempting the obstacles did so safely. In the end, it all went very smoothly with some very good course times being achieved despite the undulating nature of the course and the obstacles. The run finished with coffee and cakes at the finish, with all runners also receiving a very handsome West Acre Wild Stag medal.This year’s event raised £2,900 for the West Acre Theatre Crowd Funding campaign.Operating in a converted Chapel which serves as a flexible studio space seating 80, the theatre offers a year-round programme of in-house productions, visiting companies, concerts, workshops, cinema screenings and many other events.Anyone wishing to help save West Acre Theatre can find all the details at the following link https://www.westacretheatre.com/crowdfundersaveusfromextinction?