A double dose of cross country plus lots more
It was a bumper week for cross country this week with the ladies bringing third place home in the Southern cross-country relays – well done Rebecca, Leigh and Sarah. We also had full A and B ladies and men’s teams for the Sunday league at Cheshunt. Several eager Heathsiders doubled up with races on both Saturday and Sunday, with Leigh and Chris mixing it up with a cross country/road double.
Southern Counties Cross-Country Relays
Saturday 17th October 2015, Wormwood Scrubs
Autumn was definitely in the air at a breezy and chilly Wormwood Scrubs for the Southern Relays. Mercifully, however, the course was dry and odour-free, which made for some quick cross-country running over the flat terrain.
Heathside fielded two teams of three competitors for the Senior Women’s event (c3km legs), and three teams of four competitors for the Senior Men’s event (c5km legs), with John Flahive valiantly making up a Men’s D-team of one.
Our Women’s A-team finished in an impressive 3rd place (bronze medal) from 22 finishing teams, behind South London, and Belgrave. Congratulations to Rebecca Piggott, Leigh James, and Sarah Swinhoe. A great effort from the Women’s B-team saw us finish 14th, with solid runs from Elspeth Storrar, Estibaliz Guijarro Puente, and Emilia Vynnycky. A special congratulations to Sarah Swinhoe, making her way back from a lengthy injury to clock - along with Rebecca Piggott - the joint sixth-fastest Women’s leg of the day, at 12m 29s. Sarah’s return to form ought to be worrying a few at H*ghgate. Hurrah!
In the Senior Men’s race, Heathside’s A-team finished an impressive 6th in a strong field of 31 teams. The winners, H*ghgate, were followed by Belgrave, Windsor Slough & Eton, and Herne Hill. Solid running from Olivier le Polain, Andrew Brooker, Andy Barnes, and Chris Norris bodes well for our Met League hopes this season. Ryan McCrickerd, Jonathan Litchfield, Joe McKeown, and Dan McKeown warmed up for the Sunday X/C League with a creditable 19th place finish. Ryan’s run suggests a return to form. Paul Lemmon, Gavin Evans, Chris Hartley, and Dom Jackson made up a Heathside C-team that was also V-50, with a combined age of 210! The knees held out long enough to see them home in 24th place. Lastly, nice running from John Flahive, who made up a Heathside D-team of one, running the first leg in a time of 16 minutes exactly - making John our fastest Vet round the course on the day.
Results
Senior Women Team Results (22 teams finished)
3rd London Heathside A (Rebecca Piggott, Leigh James, Sarah Swinhoe) 38:14
14th London Heathside B (Elspeth Storrar, Estibaliz Guijarro Puente, Emilia Vynnycky) 42:23
Senior Women Individual Results (70 finishers)
6= Rebecca Piggott 12:29
6= Sarah Swinhoe 12:29
29. Leigh James 13:16
35. Elspeth Storrar 13:33
40. Estibaliz Guijjarro Puente13:52
54. Emilia Vynnycky 14:58
Senior Men Team Results (31 teams finished)
6th London Heathside A (Olivier le Polain, Andrew Brooker, Andy Barnes, Chris Norris) 58:54
19th Heathside B (Ryan McCrickerd, Jonathan Litchfield, Joe McKeown, Dan McKeown) 1:06:27
24th Heathside C (Paul Lemmon, Gavin Evans, Chris Hartley, Dom Jackson) 1:09:33
DNF Heathside D (John Flahive) 16:00 (first leg)
Senior Men Individual Results (127 finished)
14. Olivier le Polain 14:18
25. Andrew Brooker 14:46
28. Chris Norris 14:53
31. Andy Barnes 14:57
41. Ryan McCrickerd 15:24
59. John Flahive 16:00
66. Dan McKeown 16.11
83. Joe McKeown 16.48
86. Chris Hartley 17.07
89. Paul Lemmon 17.20
90. Dom Jackson 17.22
99. Gavin Evans 17.44
103. Jonathan Litchfield 18.04
Sunday League XC Race #1, Cheshunt Park, , Sunday 18 October
(approx. 5 miles)
Once more unto the breach! A new Sunday League season kicked off in fine style with 26 intrepid Heathsiders making this the best turnout to a season opener in the last six years. What’s more, we were able to field full A and B teams both for women and men, which is a major coup in the case of the latter. The challenge now will be keeping that momentum going the rest of the season.
As ever, Cheshunt’s rolling three-lap course was kind to us, with just a short stretch of muddy puddles which nonetheless managed to contribute more mud than was on hand (or foot) at Claybury last week. Having already secured first place at Grovelands parkrun the day before, Richard Macaulay stormed home 7th overall in a field of 452 runners. Jessica Vinluan was Heathside’s first woman to finish, and 30th woman overall.
Other notable performances on the men’s team came from Jonathan Litchfield and the brothers McKeown, who all contributed to the top half of the A team and get extra kudos for having raced in the Southern Counties the day before. And a special mention to Bob Gould, who ran the Hampstead Heath parkrun on Saturday and followed this up with 2nd here in his age group. Plus a warm welcome to all our new runners, and a big thank you to those who provided lifts.
We open the season with the women’s A team in 10th place (5 places lower than last year) and the men’s A team 11th (1 place lower) out of 20 clubs taking part. Of those clubs that fielded B teams, Heathside’s men are currently 9th out of 11, and the women are 11th out of 13. In the ‘Masters’ category, the men are in 10th and the women in 11th. In the men and women’s combined category, we are (perhaps unsurprisingly) 10th overall.
This may not be our strongest start to a season, but it’s by no means our worst, and if anything we’re ‘sitting pretty’ in the middle of the table with four more fixtures still to come. The next is at Trent Park, where we have seen a good turnout and strong performances in recent years, so please come along if you can, and help the club cement its place firmly amongst the top clubs taking part.
Results
(gender position in brackets)
7. Richard Macaulay 28m 46s
29. Dan McKeown 30m 20s
59. Joe McKeown 31m 43s (58th)
64. Jonathan Litchfield 31m 54s (63rd)
80. Lee Connor 32m 42s (78th)
148. Ray Yau 35m 56s (139th)
167. Robert Bowler 36m 48s (150th)
175. John McKnight 36m 58s (157th)
183. Richard Peachment 37m 14s (163rd)
185. Gavin Parish 37m 16s (164th)
191. Nick De Sausmarez 37m 39s (169th)
217. Jessica Vinluan 38m 36s (30th)
262. Ollie Pound 39m 51s (213th)
268. Rosie Edward 40m 04s (51st)
269. Sally Burrows 40m 05s (52nd)
278. Nilesh Goswami 40m 26s (222nd)
296. Steve Betts 41m 10s (229th)
308. Kirsty Newland 41m 26s (76th)
310. Bob Gould 41m 30s (233rd, 2nd M70)
320. Roy McDowall 41m 53s (236th)
327. Shelly Fennell 42m 04s (87th)
347. Victoria Pound 43m 13s (101st)
393. Noora Lainio 46m 00s (127th)
398. Steve Woolf 46m 48s (268th)
414. Louise Cripps 48m 07s (141st)
430. Emma Gregory 50m 28s (151st)
452 finishers (286 men, 166 women)
The next Sunday League fixture will be at Trent Park on November 22nd – not on the 15th or the 17th, as has previously been misstated.
Jill Oliver 10k, Sunday 18 October
Well done to Leigh on her first place.
18(1) Leigh James 41.17
37 Andrew Tobin 43.45
77 Alun Nash 47.24
88 Raymond Watts 48.25
Run Through Battersea Park 10k, Sunday 18 October
Chris Hartley reports: “Two weeks after running 35m 42s at the Middlesex 10k, I took part in the Run Through Battersea Park 10k, in order to have another crack at the Heathside V50 10k record of 35.23. The end result was the same. Exactly the same.”
2nd Chris Hartley 35m 42s
Abingdon marathon, Sunday 18 October
35 Rob Shulman 2.53.54
105 Phil Hogg 3.04.49
Chelmsford marathon, Sunday 18 October
29 Jose Andrea Silva 3.08.17
Amsterdam half marathon, Sunday 18 October
2078 Satu Heitanen 1.42.45
River Thames half marathon, Sunday 18 October
15 Ben Wolfe 81.47
95 Greg Swimer 90.47
VeloPark Team Relay Duathlon
Ten Heathsiders plus two athletes from other friendly north London clubs ventured over to the Lee Valley VeloPark early on Sunday morning for a team relay duathlon event run by the Greenwich Tritons. Each person on a 4-member team had to run 2 miles/laps of the VeloPark, bike 6 miles/laps, and run 1 mile/lap before handing off their chip to the next teammate.
John D, Dominic, Jesper, and Rick H made up the Heathside men's team, and Gabi, Sandra, Agi, and Caroline W represented Heathside women. Jo and I roped in my partner Fabian, who rides with Islington Cycle Club, and Nick R from Hamsptead Tri Club to fill out our "mixed" team.
The event was relaxed but well-organised with chip timing and friendly marshals; the overcast weather made it chilly standing around but perfect while moving. Abut 20 teams turned up in total, which made for some good competition -- although everything spread out quite a bit on the first run leg.
Team Heathside-plus did really well: the men's team was fifth in their category, the ladies were second, and my mixed team came third out of 14 in our category. All in all a great showing, and a nice way to change things up from the usual Sunday long run.
Parkruns
Well done to Rich Macaulay and Alice Lighton for their first places.
http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2015-10-17