Does the Cider Weekend sound like fun to you? Well if you like running – and cider – then it ticks all the boxes. Featuring the Cider 24 Hour race, the Frolic, which is 12 hours, and the Piggy Plod, which is 10km, the Cider Weekend has a little something for everyone. The Cider 24 could be tackled as a solo, a pair, a medium or a large team. The Frolic could be entered as a solo, a pair, a team of three or a team of four.

The Piggy Plod consists of an Adult race, which is a two-lap route, and the Kids Piggy Plod which is 4km. Both races entail running round the the cider farm which was formerly a pig farm and is now home to the popular Cranbourne Chase Cider.

The terrain for the Piggy Plod is mostly dust tracks, fields, crops and grass. Bournemouth AC members Nathan Mearns and Geoff Newton were both taking part in the Adult Piggy Plod race. They are at different ends of the spectrum when it comes to age, with Nathan one of the younger lads in the club who is just beginning to transition into adult races of a longer distance.

At 79 years of a age and with an illustrious running history behind him, there isn’t much Geoff hasn’t seen and done over his time. It was unlikely the Piggy Plod would pose him too many problems but he enjoys his trail races and would much prefer to be in the thick of it than attempting to find the motivation to go for a solo training run.

Getting into the spirit of the event, Nathan was dressed in a pink tutu. Although he looked the part, he wasn’t feeling too great beforehand so decided to try not to push it too hard. He still managed to clock a 7:10 for the first mile though, even though it contained a couple of inclines. The second mile contained a slight decline for the first kilometre and then a slight incline after that. Nathan clocked a 7:34 for that one before tackling the third mile.

Registering a 9:34 for his next mile, which included a stop-off at the aid station. He’d got side-tracked by being given alcoholic drinks there, which is understandable. When he got going again, he had more slopes to contend with on the fourth mile. Getting through that in 8:21 it was then onto the penultimate split. Clocking a 7:56 for his fifth mile, Nathan then went on the score a 7:54 for his final split.

Crossing the line in 49:34, Nathan had finished 9th out of 105 runners and was 1st in the Male 15-19 category. That wasn’t a bad effort from Nathan and he’d clocked up 450ft of elevation throughout the course of the run.

Achieving his highest placing in a race for quite some time, Geoff managed 18th place, completing the course in a time of 55:16. That saw him take 2nd place in the Male 70+ category, with Kelvyn Ward of Poole Runners coming 1st in that age group in a time of 50:52. He was 13th overall.

Geoff said his finishing position showed that it wasn’t a very serious race and that made it “suitable for a broken down old man”.

Sam Foster picked up the race win in 41:23, with James Hughes taking 2nd place in 41:35. Clementine Ebel was 1st female, registering a time of 42:27 which put her 3rd overall. Gemma Russhard of New Forest Runners was 2nd female and 4th overall in 43:53.

There was also an appearance from Bournemouth AC man Stu Glenister in the Frolic race, where the premise was to complete as many 3.5 mile laps as possible over the allotted 12 hour time period. Stu managed eight laps which put his total distance at 28 miles.

That was a stellar attempt from Stu and his fastest lap of the event was 32 minutes 46 seconds, with his slowest being 48 minutes 11 seconds. His average lap time came out at 39:19 and it was enough to make him 29th male in the overall standings.

Simon Arthur of Egdon Heath Harriers and Stephen Williams of Littledown Harriers also both managed eight laps each. Egdon Heath Harriers man Robert Welman clocked up an incredible 21 laps during the 12 hour slot which amounted to 73.5 miles.

That was enough to see off competition from Jamie Goss of Lordshill who managed 19 laps and 66.5 miles. Ian Regan of Weston AC was 3rd male with 16 laps giving him a total distance of 56 miles. Robert Welman also posted the fastest lap out of anyone, which was 27:33, beating Simon Scott’s time of 29:16.

Out of the women in the race, it was Katie Madgewick of Southville Running Club who managed the most, with 15 laps giving her a grand total of 52.5 miles. Michaela Hurd of Yeovil Town was 2nd with 14 laps giving her a total of 49 miles, which Nicola Toogood also managed as well. If two athletes are level, it then comes down to the total combined time that they did their laps in to decide who comes out on top.

Stu’s wife Sharon also managed to complete eight laps as well, meaning she’d also racked up an impressive 28 miles. That put her effectively 21st out of the ladies in the race in terms of distance, along with several others. Judging it by the combined time of all her laps, she came 37th.

In the 24 Hour one, Mark Darcy did the most laps, completing 30 which gave him a total of 105 miles. Ceri Goddard did the most out of the women in the race, managing 27 laps which gave her a total distance of 94.5 miles.

Although it was a lot of fun for both the athletes and the organisers, the Cider Weekend was also tinged with sadness as well. The reason for that was that it was the last ever Keep Running Rural event before the company ceased trading.

The Keep Running Rural brand had previously been known as White Star Running and they were a massively popular organiser of races in the Dorset area for the past 12 years. In a way they sort of blazed the trail for off-road running events, making them more accessible to the masses and essentially putting the emphasis more on the ‘fun’ aspect rather than the ‘fast’ aspect.

Of course, the events were still timed races at the end of the day but they were designed to appeal to runners of all levels and it didn’t matter how fast or slow you were. All that mattered was that you enjoyed the event.

They were very creative with the events they put on as well, like with the ‘Bell Race’ in the Giants Head Weekend where the participants had a run up a massive hill, collect their cowbell medal, then run back down the hill with their bells clanging as they go.

Over time, the White Star Running brand had built up its own running community as well, with a group on Facebook consisting of over 8,000 members who shared photos, discussed races before and after the events, or just told jokes and had a laugh with each other. Those people will certainly miss the events if they can no longer be staged in the future.

As the saying goes though, all good things must come to an end, and for Keep Running Rural, or White Star Running as they are most widely recognised as, the time has sadly come for them to say goodbye.