Ten reasons why you should come to The Gathering:

1) Every man should have the chance to escape the 9-5 world and run around in a field.

2) Every man should be given the opportunity to get back to basics for a weekend and sleep next to farm animals.

3) Every man should be inspired by those who have discovered something phenomenal.

4) Every man should take part in a pub quiz with a few hundred teams involved.

5) Every man should hear the stunning musical talent of Roo Walker

6) Every man should have the option of a cheeky pint of real ale with his mates before retreating to a tent.

7) Every man should consider attaching a horizontal bungee rope to his body and running as far as he can.

8) Every man should think about the bigger issues of life for at least one weekend a year.

9) Every man should try a hovercraft ride.

10) Every man should laugh loudly in a random Swindon field.

More than 600 men have booked. Book your place here.

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The race for the Reimer League title took yet another twist yesterday. In the lunchtime kick-off, Manchester United twice gave up a two-goal lead to draw 4-4 with Everton.

They lead 3-1 and 4-2 thanks to a brace form Wayne Rooney and one each form Nani and Danny Welbeck but Everton kept coming back. With seven minutes to play Nikica Jelavic scored his second before Steven Pienaar nipped in to earn his side point.

Manchester City meanwhile kept up the pressure on their title rivals with a 2-0 win over Wolves. Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri netting for city but the defeat for Wolves means they’re the first team this season to have their relegation from the Premier League confirmed.

Roy Hodgson’s West Brom beat his former side Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield thanks to a Peter Odemwingie goal who profited from an error from Glen Johnson after 75 minutes.

Arsenal and Chelsea played out a goalless draw on Saturday with Chelsea making eight changes to the side that beat Barcelona on Tuesday evening. Arsenal had the best of the chance through Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny who both saw efforts hit the crossbar.

Blackburn registered a win after five defeats in a row with a 2-0 victory at home to Norwich to give them a much-needed boost in their fight against relegation. Bolton could only muster a 1-1 draw with Swansea, and now sit four points away from safety with two games in hand on Wigan. Blackburn are three behind the Latics.

Robin van Persie was named PFA Player of the Year last night at a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House. Tottenham’s Kyle Walker took the Young Player of the Year award.

Sebastian Vettel became the fourth different winner of a Grand Prix from four races this season. The world champion overcame the challenge of Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel, who started on pole saw his early lead cut by Raikkonen’s Lotus but he restored his advantage with some efficient pitting.

The other man to make the podium was Lotus’s Romain Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton finished eighth while Jenson Button retired.

In cricket’s County Championship, reigning champions Lancashire suffered their second defeat in their opening two matches against Warwickshire. Keith Barker and Jeehan Patel both took five wickets for Warwickshire.

Hampshire beat Glamorgan with Hamza Riazuddin hitting the winning runs off the penultimate ball of the match. Yorkshire and Essex’s drew their rain-affected match while the poor weather affected the match between Durham and Middlesex at Lords, which also finished a draw.

In the penultimate round of matches in Rugby Union’s Aviva Premiership,

At the top of the table Leicester beat Harlequins 43-33 at the Stoop to go second ahead of Saracens, a single point behind their opponents Quins. Ugo Monye and Nick Easter scored in the first half to give the home side the lead, but tries from George Lowe, Alesana Tuilagi and Thomas Waldrom along with the boot of Toby Flood put Leicester in charge.

Northampton beat Exeter 18-15 to go above their opponents into the fourth and final playoff place. Paul Diggins gave the Saints an eight-point lead and despite scoring through Richard Baxter Northampton held on. Exeter now need Worcester to beat Northampton in the final round of games if they are to stand any chance of making the playoffs for the first time in the club’s history.

Wasps earnt an important bonus point despite losing 17-12 to Bath. They play relegation rivals Newcastle Falcons on the final day of the season and Newcastle must score four tries and win by seven points to overhaul Wasps.

Huddersfield continued their excellent run of form with their fourth straight Super League win – their tenth of the 12-game old campaign – this time against Bradford. Danny Brough scored two penalties and a try in the second half to help his side to a 20-6 win.

Pat Richards scored a hat-trick as second-placed Wigan thrashed Hull 56-12. Warrington registered an equally good win over Castleford. They scored seven first-half tries and a further three after the break.

St Helens thrashed basement club Widnes 62-0 and fellow strugglers London Broncos lost 44-6 away at Hull KR.

Rafael Nadal cruised past Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-1 to win his eight-straight Monte Carlo Open title ahead of next month’s French Open.

Kenyan pair Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany won the elite races in Sunday’s London Marathon. Lee Merrien was the fastest British man, finishing in a time of 2:13:40. In the women’s race, Claire Hallissey finished in 2:28.

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Manchester City’s stuttering form continued against in their 3-3 with Sunderland on Saturday, allowing Manchester United the opportunity to open up a five-point gap at the top of the league if they beat Blackburn this evening.

Sebastian Larsson scored either side of half-time for Sunderland to help his side to a 3-1 lead but City rescued a point with two goals in the final five minutes of the match.

Arsenal’s excellent run came to an end at QPR. Theo Walcott cancelled out Adel Taarabt opening goal before half time but Samba Diakite won it for Rangers midway through the second half to leave them only in the relegation zone behind Blackburn on goals scored.

Wigan were impressive in their 2-0 win at home to Stoke, and the only side in the bottom four not to win on Saturday was Wolves who lost their relegation six-pointer against Bolton 3-2 at Molineux.

Martin Petrov scored from the penalty spot to reveal a t-shirt in support of countryman and friend, Aston Villa captain Stilyan Petrov who was announced to be suffering from acute leukaemia. Petrov’s team lost 4-2 at home to Chelsea, with Fernando Torres scoring his first league goal in six months in the final seconds.

On Sunday, Liverpool’s dreadful league form continued as they went down 2-0 away at Newcastle thanks to a goal in each half from Papiss Demba Cisse. An exaggerated reaction from James Perch saw Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina shown a red card in the final minutes for an apparent headbutt.

Tottenham beat Swansea 3-1 at White Hart Lane to stop the rot and win their first league game in seven weeks. Rafael can der Vaart opened the scoring in the first half and Emmanuel Adebayor added two more in the final twenty minutes.

Andy Murray lost in the final of the Miami Masters, going down 6-1q 7-6 (7-4) to world number one Novak Djokovic in a repeat of the 2009 final. Djokovic bossed the match from beginning to end and deserved the win, not even allowing Murray a single break point chance all match.

Harlequins beat Saracens 24-19 in what was billed as the biggest game of the Aviva Premiership season so far. Jordan Turner-Hall, George Lowe and Danny Care all scored for Harlequins and the league leaders resisted a late charge from their opponents.

Third, fourth and fifth-placed Leicester, Northampton and Exeter all won to move ahead of Gloucester who lost at Wasps.

Huddersfield beat Leeds 22-12 to return to the top of the Super League ahead of Hull who have a game in hand. On Friday evening Warrington slipped up at home to St. Helens, losing 28-16, while Wigan beat Salford 40-20. Catalan Dragons thrashed bottom side Widnes 76-6 to keep pace in fifth.

Interim England head coach Stuart Lancaster was given the job on a permanent basis after guiding the national team through what was a successful Six Nations campaign in which England finished second with four wins from five matches.

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It was a busy road and it was the busiest time of the day; morning rush hour. But it was my regular route to work and, despite cars being parked on both sides of the road, I was used to it, and vehicles of all shapes and sizes travelling in both directions were just about able to pass each other safely.

Occasionally however, a big bus came along.

Even though I was safely tucked in between two parked cars, the impatient idiot inside me stupidly asked:  ‘Do I sit here and wait for the X-62 to pass or do I take my chances and go for it?’ After deciding on the latter, and quickly realising it was the wrong choice and that I’d horribly misjudged the size of the gap, there was really only one thing left to do: to get out of the way of the bus, even if it meant smashing the wing mirror off an inconveniently parked Vauxhall Vectra.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The noise was worse than if a fridge had been pushed off a cliff and landed on concrete – but with added pop – and the mirror, or bits of mirror, landed a long way from the car it was no longer attached to. It flew through the ice cold Northumberland air – in truth, I was fortunate it hadn’t flown into a sleepy school-goer or crazy masochistic morning jogger.

Of course, I pulled over and left a note for the owner of the Vectra, dusted myself off, felt incredibly angry with myself for making such an awful decision, kept telling myself ‘if only I’d waited six more seconds …’ and carried on to work feeling incredibly grumpy.

More than a few teachers that I work with noticed that I wasn’t my ‘chirpy self’ and when I told them why, I was astounded as to how shocked they were that I didn’t simply drive on, inviting the opportunity to ask them ‘well, what would Jesus do, eh?’ and opening up a few interesting conversations leaving more than a few work colleagues with little doubt as to what I believed in and how I try to live by it day in, day out.

I received a call from the Vectra-minus-a-mirror man later that day, and the damage was far worse than I had anticipated money wise.

It made me think though – well, if it cost over £200 to fix some bloke’s car, who cares? I got to name check Jesus to a bunch of work colleagues today. Although that had been a huge positive to coincide with a most unfortunate and pricey incident, I had to quickly remind myself – no, wait a minute here – this didn’t need to happen in order for me to open up about my faith – we can share the gospel for free.

‘…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ Acts 1:8

As it doesn’t cost a penny, and it’s the best news you could ever give to anybody, I should really start sharing it more often.

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Liverpool won their first piece of silverware in six years but required penalties to overcome Championship side Cardiff in the Carling Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.

The underdogs had led for more than 40 minutes before Martin Skrtel pounced on a deflection off the post to cancel out Joe Mason’s 19^th-minute opener. In extra time Dirk Kuyt gave Liverpool the lead but in the 118^th minute Ben Turner equalised from close range for Cardiff to send the match to penalities.

Anthony Gerrard – cousin of Liverpool captain Steven – suffered the ignominy of missing his side’s vital fifth penalty to hand the cup to his opponents.

Wales secured the Triple Crown in controversial circumstances with a 19-12 victory over England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Scott Williams ripped the ball from Courtney Lawes in the tackle and broke to score beneath the posts to give Wales a seven-point lead with five minutes remaining.

England pushed hard to level as the final whistle approached and, as the clock ticked past the 80-minute mark, David Strettle looked to have gone over to give England a last-minute try which would have had to have been converted to tie the match.

Referee Steve Walsh referred the decision to the television match official who saw the video evidence as inconclusive, so was unable to award the try.

Wales top the Six Nations table ahead of France who overcame Scotland 23-17 at Murrayfield to condemn the Scots to their third straight defeat in the competition. Scotland looked bright and traded the lead with their opponents until a Maxime Medard try put France into a lead which they were not to surrender.

Ireland were ruthless in their 42-10 defeat of Italy at the Aviva Stadium. Tommy Bowe scored two of his side’s five tries in a comfortable win which puts Ireland back on track after they loss to Wales, then saw their match against France postponed in the last round of matches.

In the Premier League, Arsenal thrashed North London rivals Tottenham 5-2 despite going 2-0 down in the first half.

A stunning strike from Robin van Persie levelled the scores at 2-2 before half-time after Bakary Sagna had headed home in response to Louis Saha’s opener and Emmanuel Adebayor’s penalty.

And in the second half Arsenal turned the screw, with a Tomas Rosicky goal and a brace from Theo Walcott giving them a three-goal lead which Tottenham rarely threatened.

Manchester United relied on goals from their old guard of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to win 2-1 against Norwich at Carrow Road and avoid losing any more ground to Manchester City in the Premier League title race.

Scholes headed in from close range early on in the first half but Grant Holt equalised for Norwich after United appeared to have taken the win for granted. Conceding the goal shook United into life for the final few minutes of the match and despite Danny Welbeck missing a couple of gilt-edged opportunities, Ryan Giggs knocked in an Ashley Young cross at the far post with the outside of his left boot.

Rory McIlroy lost to Hunter Mahan in the final of the WGC Match Play final in Dove Mountain, Arizona and with it missed his chance to become world number one.

The Northern Irishman battled back from four down on the back nine but eventually went down 2&1. He had recovered from being three down after four holes against Lee Westwood in the semi-final earlier but was unable to repeat such a comeback against Mahan.

England’s cricketers recovered from Thursday’s defeat against Pakistan level the T20 series 1-1 with a 38-run victory in advance of the third and final match on Monday. An unbeaten 60 from Jonny Bairstow helped England return to winning ways in the limited overs game after a fine one-day series.

England’s bowlers were on top form to restrict their opponents to 112 all out in 18.2 overs. Pakistan were 2/2 early in their innings thanks to wickets from Steven Finn and Joel Dernbach, and those two, along with captain Stuart Broad, produced good pace displays to help England to the win.

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Manchester City and Manchester United, level on points at the top of the Premier League, suffered shock defeats to Sunderland and Blackburn respectively over New Year’s weekend.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s 70^th birthday was spoiled as Rovers moved off the foot of the table with a 3-2 win at Old Trafford. Yakubu gave the visitors a surprise 2-0 lead, the first from the spot, but Dimitar Berbatov’s brace levelled proceedings midway through the second half. However, Grant Hanley headed a late winner.

Leaders City failed to take advantage on their rival’s slip-up the previous day as Ji Dong-won’s injury-time goal sealed a 1-0 victory at the Stadium of Light.

Third-placed Tottenham could not fully capitalise as they were held 1-1 at Swansea. Arsenal moved up to fourth with a 1-0 win at home to QPR while Cheslsea lost 3-1 at home to Aston Villa. Liverpool were level on points with Chelsea following a 3-1 defeat of Newcastle.

Everton won 1-0 at West Brom and the other games were drawn: Bottom side Bolton 1-1 with Wolves, Norwich 1-1 with Fulham and Stoke 2-2 with Wigan.

Harlequins extended their lead at the top of Rugby Union’s Premiership as they won 11-9 at Exeter and second-placed Saracens were held 15-15 at home to Gloucester.

Third-placed Northampton and Leicester were level on points following Saints’ 32-14 win at bottom side Newcastle and Tigers’ thrilling 28-23 victory at home to Sale. Bath thrashed London Irish 30-3 and Worcester won 6-0 at Wasps.

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Manchester United moved level on points with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League thanks mainly to Dimitar Berbatov’s hat-trick in a 5-0 Boxing Day win at home to 10-man Wigan while the leaders could only manage a goalless draw at West Brom.

In the other Boxing Day games Fulham held Chelsea, who remained fourth, to a 1-1 draw and sixth-placed Liverpool were limited to the same scoreline by bottom side Blackburn.

Seventh-placed Newcastle moved a point behind Liverpool with a 2-0 win over Bolton, Stoke and Aston Villa drew 0-0 while Sunderland and Everton finished 1-1.

In the two Premiership Rugby Union fixtures on Boxing Day Sale went third in the table with a 27-19 victory over bottom side Newcastle and six-try Gloucester thrashed Wasps 39-10.

In Rugby League’s traditional Boxing Day friendlies Leeds beat Wakefield 26-10, Castleford saw off Bradford 28-18 and Warrington defeated Widnes 32-18.

In Racing Kauto Star sealed a historic fifth King George VI Chase victory at Kempton Park.

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Manchester City regained their two-point lead at the top of the Premier League after rivals Manchester United briefly led the table on Sunday afternoon.

United won 2-0 at QPR in the lunchtime game but City restored their advantage with a 1-0 victory at home to fifth-placed Arsenal, David Silva netting a close-range effort.

Tottenham returned to third with a 1-0 defeat of Sunderland after Chelsea, who dropped to fourth, were held to a 1-1 draw at Wigan.

Sixth-placed Liverpool won 2-0 at Aston Villa, Newcastle drew 0-0 with visiting Swansea, Stoke were 2-1 winners at Wolves and Norwich took a 1-1 draw from their trip to Everton.

Fulham beat basement side Bolton 2-0 and second-from-bottom Blackburn lost 2-1 at home to West Brom.

In Rugby Union, Saracens remained the only English side to lead their European Cup group although Leicester and Harlequins boosted their quarter-final prospects with wins.

Visiting Saracens held off Ospreys 16-13, Leicester beat Clermont Auvergne 29-13 at home but the performance of the weekend came from Quins who won a stunning game at Toulouse 31-24.

In the same group Gloucester saw off Connacht 23-19 but will still struggle to progress, as will Bath who lost 52-27 at defending champions Leinster. Northampton thrashed Castres 45-0 but remained a long shot for the last eight.

In the Challenge Cup Exeter and Wasps led their groups after beating Bayonne and Newport-Gwent Dragons respectively. Worcester and Sale were second in their pools following wins, as were Newcastle who lost to a Toulon side featuring former player Jonny Wilkinson who last week retired from internationals.

In Golf there were wins for two Englishmen: Lee Westwood took the Thailand Open by seven shots and Ian Poulter the Australian Masters by three.

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England’s Luke Donald became the first man to top Golf’s US and European money lists by finishing third in the Dubai World Championship.

Having sealed the American prize in October, Donald needed to finish in the top nine in Dubai to secure the European equivalent. He did so with a final-round 66 to end 16 under par, three shots behind the winner Alvaro Quiros of Spain.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was the only player who could deny Donald the European title, if he won in Dubai and the Englishman finished outside the top nine. McIlroy’s challenge faded and he ended 10 shots adrift of Quiros.

An Englishman also held off a Northern Irishman in Snooker as Judd Trump beat Mark Allen 10-8 to win the UK Championship title in York.

Allen led 3-1 but Trump took the next seven frames. Allen won five of the next six but Trump, who took his first ranking title in China earlier this year, held on.

In Football’s Premier League, Manchester United closed the gap on leaders Manchester City to two points although it could be temporary with City playing at Chelsea on Monday evening.

United saw off Wolves 4-1 thanks to braces from Nani and Wayne Rooney. Third-placed Tottenham lost ground with a 2-1 defeat to Stoke, former Spurs winger Matthew Etherington scoring both City goals.

Arsenal broke into the top four, again possibly temporarily with Chelsea is action on Monday, thanks to a 1-0 win over Everton. Liverpool went sixth with a 1-0 victory against QPR and Newcastle losing 4-2 to Norwich.

Wigan moved off the bottom with a 2-1 defeat of West Brom and Bolton taking their place courtesy of a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa. Sunderland beat struggling Blackburn 2-1 in new boss Martin O’Neill’s first game in charge. Swansea saw off Fulham 2-0.

In Rugby Union’s European Cup Saracens beat Ospreys 31-26 at Wembley to stay top of their group, the only English side in such a position.

London Irish defeated Racing Metro 34-14, Northampton lost 41-22 to Castres, Bath were beaten 18-13 by Leinster and Leicester lost 30-12 to Clermont Auvergne. Gloucester and Harlequins, who are in the same group, respectively beat Connacht 14-10 and lost to Toulouse 21-10.

In the Challenge Cup there were wins for Worcester, Exeter, Sale and Newcastle but not Wasps.

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