It was very kind of Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers to ask me to their annual Marston Forest 5k to take some photographs . . although in the week preceding the event the weather was so wet that I began to wonder if I might regret accepting the invitation . .

. . but of course as we know now, Friday was warm and dry, if windy, and we were able to enjoy the evening sunshine. Before the main event there was a 2k Fun Run . .

 . . and here are the two winners of the shorter race . . with, in the photo on the left, the race winner on his way to the finish as the day's youngest (and shortest) competitor helped her Mum through the first kilometre . .

 Once the Fun Runners had crossed the finish line it was time to scurry down the trail to the 5k start . .

 . . whilst the rest of us waited close to Race HQ for the runners to stream past us . . and less than 4 minutes later the cyclist trailing the runners went by . .

. . and here's a short video of the runners coming by . .

Then it was time for me to move from the road to the trail to wait for the runners a second time . . by now they would be well on their way to the finish . . with a little over 500 metres still to go . .

 First, the lead cyclist . . then the two leaders, some way ahead of the pack, were followed by the Race Referee . .

 . . and behind him, 337 more runners rushing to the finish as fast and as hard as they could . .

. . before once again, the tail cyclist came by . . and we returned to the Forest Centre for the prize giving . .

My thanks to Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers for the invitation . . and to the runners for smiling and waving as they came by . .

Please use the buttons below . . and up on the top left of the page, to find the rest of the photos of the 2012 Marston Forest 5k . .