It must have been the rain, but fewer than half of the recent number took part in this month’s race. Glad to see Ed making a reappearance, looking very trim, and his devastating final kick to hold off Rob G in the sprint for last place. Those of us watching the runners come back through the fields were surprised to see that Shaun J put in an impressive last half mile to leave Katy who must have gone very well to almost catch him before that. The real question was whether his namesake, Shaun H, could take the record from the man off scratch – Tony W. Both have done a lot of tough races recently but Tony chased hard enough to break his own record – just not quite quick enough! Congrats to Shaun for breaking the 18 minute barrier, and thereby averaging 6 minutes per mile. For those who ran it the bonus is that they achieved good scores for the series championships – fewer people always means generally lower scores which aids their overall points position.
……………………………….Finishing time….Actual time………Points
1st Shaun H…………………7.03.57pm………..17m57……………34/2
2nd Shaun J…………………7.04.11……………..23m11……………39/3
3rd Katy B………………………04.23…………….22m23…………..53/5
4th Mat………………………….04.28……………..21m28…………..38/3
5th Craig…………………………….35………………21m35…………..52/4
6th Tony W…………………………39………………18m09………….20/4
7th Mei……………………………….40………………25m40…………52/3
8th Phil……………………………….47………………21m47…………..8/1
9th Bob……………………………….48………………24m48………….9/1
10th Kate W…………………………54……………….24m24…………24/3
11th Sali…………………………….05.08…………….24m38………….57/4
12th David Sp………………………..27………………25m27………….35/2
13th Fred………………………………46………………23m16………….79/4
14th Ed……………………………..06.05……………..28m35…………14/1
15th Rob G……………………………..08………………23m38……….45/3
Actually the above results reveal that it was a very fast race, quite apart from Shaun H’s record. Shaun J knocked over a minute off his best and Katy almost repeated her remarkable 22m20 in May. Fred said he felt slow as Katy left him, but actually he wasn’t by previous standards. Sali and Kate W knocked another 10 seconds off their bests (proof of the effect of their participation in Tuesday speed sessions), while Mat and Craig impressed by chopping off over 30 seconds. All very encouraging for the cross country season, except that it is a bit worrying that so few women are doing this sort of short, fast, tough stuff. Without Rhian P and Tracey this winter we are really going to struggle to stay in the 1st Division especially if one of our remaining counters (Ceri D, Ceri B, Katy, and Victoria – or Emma) gets injured or ill. Sali and Kate are at present the only ones within striking distance of the equivalent of sub 23 minutes on this course which will be required to make the top 30 in the League cross country races which begin in October. Now is the time to think about how you can get there! Your club needs YOU.
