A question was posed on the radio this week – “What is happiness?” Surprisingly (or not), one of the things that gave great joy to humans was being able to help each another.

Well as a result of the Grizzly, AVR should be overflowing with happiness. At a packed Winston’s last Friday, Garry Perratt, ably assisted by Rick Wood, was able to give to give away �22,000 as a result of this year’s grizzly and grizfest. There was no one major charity donation, but cheques were presented to representatives of 41 local groups that help with the running of the event. On top of that there were 14 donations to various charities as chosen by the landowners on the course.

More groups and people than ever are getting involved, not only with superb marshalling and drink stations helping, but car parking and clearing up are tasks now required. There were 500 T shirts printed for the Support Crew and nearly all have gone. Many of these organisations pass the money on to their favourite charities as the testament of recipients explained. Overall AVR have been able to give away �201,000 to charities over the 24-year history of the Grizzly. For any Grizzly fans then you will want to know that next year’s 25th anniversary run will be on Sunday March 11. The entry forms will be on the AVR website http://www.axevalleyrunners.org.uk around September 17.

?A superb race to watch, but too hot to run in was the overall verdict from the AVR contingent in this year’s London Marathon. One person who revelled in the conditions was Jonathan Day; he had a superb run, beating his marathon PB by over 7 minutes finishing in 3:21:07 in 2854th spot.

Eleanor Wood also had a great run, she was absolutely covered in sweat as she powered across the line 4382nd in 3:33:21. In his first marathon, Tim Sibley beat the 4:30 barrier; 13,720th in 4:19:57. Rhea Shave was another first timer, 5:02:04, 23,918th. In 2007, Gill Day was 19 stone and could not run a step. What a transformation over the past few years, she has totally embraced running and, with husband Jon has brought many new members to the club. She was determined to finish in less than six hours and had Dave Braunton for company early on. Dave unfortunately, had to stop at 18 miles to have medical assistance on his back, leaving Gill to carry on alone. She was chuffed to bits to finish in 5:45:40, 30,444th. Dave wasn’t going to let the pain stop him finishing and battled on finishing in 5:57:18, 31,522nd.