A Grand National

The English National XC Championships are over for another year ……. it was a terrific, picture perfect day for XC - freezing, but sunny, and muddy enough to make it interesting, with impressive running by all. 

There was a fantastic turnout of Heathsiders this year with 40 senior men, 24 senior women and 29 Juniors and under. It’s impossible to pick out a standout result, as everyone ran their hearts out. Sarah and Jake sent in this report of an eventful and spectacular culmination of the cross country season:

Sarah reported: “We were all still a bit scarred from the horrible weather and running conditions at Trent Park a couple of weeks ago. Preparing for the worst conditions that north London and the Beast from the East could throw at us, we were all pleasantly surprised when the sun came out and the rain kept away. The bitter wind was a different story altogether.

We were a slightly diminished crew, with a number of strong runners being absent due to injury or other races, but there was a fantastic atmosphere over Parliament Hill as thousands of runners and spectators from across the country descended on Hampstead Heath. If you have never run or watched this race you really must commit to doing so next year, it is a real spine-tingler.

Juniors
The Juniors seemed less jaded than the Seniors and they were ready for action. The races were spread throughout the morning and the early afternoon. The report below highlights some of the key performances on the day but as with the senior races, every effort counts to the success of LHS on the day. Thank you all for racing so hard this season.

U17 Boys
The absolute stand-out performance of the day (and possibly the whole XC season) was Jem O’Flaherty finishing in 18th place in the U17 Boys. This is such an impressive result and LHS senior men should feel less worried about hanging up their weary spikes knowing that we have runners like Jem in the ranks. Well done, Jem.

(David Keto)

U17 Girls
Lily McKay in 232nd was first in for LHS, closely followed by Ella. Both girls have put in solid performances throughout the season.

U15 Girls
Mimi Blake was first home for LHS, followed by Nell, Ellie and Matilda to make up the scoring team. The team were missing Rose but should be pleased with their individual and team efforts. They have had a great club spirit for the whole of the season.

U15 Boys
Jake Evans had a fantastic run and a great finish to the season finishing in 52nd place. He has gone from strength to strength this season and should feel proud of this result. Thomas Archer also had a very strong run.

U13 boys
Spike Blake was 1st home for LHS in 78th, a really excellent performance, followed by Bedo, who I’m sure will be very pleased with his run.

U13 Girls
Lorna was 168th and first home for LHS.

(Lorna Dumbleton)

Women’s Race (8k)
We were all pleased (!) to be at the start but there was a slight air of end-of-season fatigue as we made our way down to the start line. The women were in Pen 12, which was pretty disastrous in terms of positioning, placing us on the far left of the field. That said it did not stop Kelly, Josie and Olivia as they led the LHS charge up the hill and beyond. Josie was first home for LHS, followed by Kelly, Olivia and Sarah S. (please see the results at the bottom of the report for positions). All three runners have been stalwarts of the A team this year and have put in endless shifts of excellent running.  We were unfortunately missing Ella Waldman and Rebecca Piggott due to injury and I’m sure we could have made a top 10 team finish with their efforts. It was lovely to have Rebecca out cheering for her team on the course though. There were some other good runs worthy of mention, with Sue Rust being the only person surely that loves running this course and Sara Black putting in another solid performance for LHS and gaining strength in her XC racing this season. Satu was next in, having raced both Met League and Sunday League XC this year – what a trooper!

Jackie Wastell gets this Captain’s star performance nomination - if there were such a thing - turning up with 2 black eyes and facial bruising, after an accident with an automatic boot. Determined not to miss this finale, Jackie raced her heart out, as she has for LHS all season, thoroughly earning her gold star (which will be awarded at the XC awards in March). As always there are too many performances to name individually so I apologise for missing or not mentioning other notable individual performances. Thank you all for turning up and running, and making us a club to be proud of. We’ve had some welcome surprise return to LHS runs this year, in the form of Rachel, Leigh and Angela - thank you for your efforts.  It’s over for another year!"

(The Ladies)

Men’s Race (12k)
Jake reported on the Men's race: "Our men put their spikes on for the final time this season, on our home churned up turf. They battled it out among a field of 2328 finishers, over the much dreaded sticky mud that we have all come to love at Parliament Hill - an iconic and unforgiving cross country venue we all love to hate!

The highlight of the weekend for Coach Jacob was Tom Livermore’s late appearance. Arriving with only 9 minutes to spare before the start of the men’s race Tom took his spikes out of his bag only for the spike plate to come off! A fantastic start to a race which saw him finish 556th. Tom Aldred came in first Heathsider in 137th. He seems to have put those hamstring woes well behind him! Tom was followed closely by Charles ‘Spanners’ Hardy in 219th, Rich ‘I’ll have you over any distance’ MacAulay in 275th, Kimon Doulis aka Special K in 434th … who thankfully did not get too much blood on the rest of the field. All finishing positions are listed below.

Our men’s team finished an impressive 26th. With such a fantastic end to the season by everyone you can’t help but have high hopes for our men next year! My dreams of a Met League victory for our senior men still live strong!"

(Rich MacAulay and Tom Aldred)

English National XC, Parliament Hill, 24.02.18
Senior Men
137 0:44:11 8733 Tom Aldred
219 0:45:43 8758 Charles Hardy
275 0:46:27 8768 Richard MacAulay
387 0:47:39 8776 Peter Northall
434 0:48:22 8750 Kimon Doulis
556 0:49:33 8767 Tom Livermore
651 0:50:39 8754 Joe Garrood
692 0:50:55 8794 Luke Wynne
735 0:51:22 8759 Chris Hartley
746 0:51:28 8742 Matthew Cockerill
780 0:51:48 8747 Sergio Di Noto
822 0:52:19 8743 Michael Cockings
919 0:53:14 8788 Esa Valtanen
936 0:53:21 8737 Simon Brown
938 0:53:22 8735 Mark Anderson
951 0:53:33 8741 Joseph Clemoes
1024 0:54:12 8779 Rajiv Ratan
1051 0:54:24 8771 Andrew McGeary
1086 0:54:44 8766 Jonathan Litchfield
1138 0:55:20 8738 Keith Burrows
1239 0:56:21 8789 Chris Vincent
1256 0:56:29 8781 Rob Salter
1273 0:56:39 8780 Doug Rendle
1308 0:56:58 8753 David Fallon
1331 0:57:11 8744 Lee Connor
1340 0:57:16 8790 Peter Ward
1360 0:57:25 8772 Stuart Meiklejohn
1365 0:57:27 8752 Gavin Evans
1389 0:57:43 8786 Marcus Tillotson
1461 0:58:38 8764 Benjamin Jenks
1529 0:59:19 8791 Trevor Wilson
1533 0:59:22 8762 Jacob Howe
1660 1:00:52 8746 Pete Crockford
1758 1:02:04 8760 Kris Milovsorov 
1877 1:04:11 8748 Nick Dodd
1904 1:04:36 8769 Marco Maserati
2038 1:07:26 8782 Tim Sander
2060 1:07:45 8793 Daniel Wrapson
2216 1:13:32 8787 Ken Townson
2281 1:18:13 8773 Norman Mitchell

Senior Women
90 0:33:07 5778 Josie Hinton
101 0:33:22 5798 Kelly Thorneycroft
136 0:34:14 5775 Olivia Desborough
185 0:35:23 5794 Sarah Swinhoe
259 0:36:43 5780 Corinna Jackson
270 0:37:00 5789 Sue Rust
284 0:37:11 5769 Sara Black
317 0:37:47 5777 Satu Hietanen
350 0:38:18 5805 Jennifer Wing
354 0:38:24 5787 Emily Reichert
408 0:39:12 5793 Tara Shrestha Carney
433 0:39:36 5784 Louisa Pointon
462 0:39:59 5803 Jacqueline Wastell
474 0:40:10 5774 Kate Davenport
519 0:40:44 5779 Marie Howard
579 0:41:42 5785 Yvette Ralston
592 0:41:55 5799 Jessica Vinluan
604 0:42:06 5782 Luice Mauger
639 0:42:33 5776 Sarah Duke
776 0:45:06 5800 Katherine Vinnicombe
812 0:45:44 5781 Heather Marshall
817 0:45:49 5795 Edyta Szot
846 0:46:30 5772 Kimberli Butler
900 0:48:19 5797 Samantha Taylor

Junior Men
124 0:38:06 4692 William Griffiths
167 0:40:19 4694 David Keto
169 0:40:21 4696 Antanas Weston

Junior Women
103 0:31:07 4342 Genevieve Weston

U17 Women
232 0:24:50 229 Lily McKay
237 0:25:08 227 Ella Conlon

U17 Men
18 0:20:33 2311 Jem O'Flaherty
59 0:21:31 2310 Liam Garrett

U15 Girls
122 0:16:39 3756 Mimi Blake
137 0:16:47 3762 Nell Swinhoe
216 0:17:31 3760 Matilda Heath
256 0:17:49 3761 Mia Manttan
321 0:18:16 3757 Martina Curcio
327 0:18:21 3758 Evelyn Dumbleton

U15 Boys
52 0:16:39 901 Jake Evans
110 0:17:17 899 Thomas Archer
172 0:17:44 903 Ruairi McGonagle
258 0:18:27 905 Oliver O'Connor
353 0:19:16 900 Stan Brown
438 0:20:23 904 Kit Naylor

U13 Girls
168 0:14:30 1659 Lorna Dumbleton
441 0:17:47 1661 Fabienne Weston

U13 Boys
78 0:12:46 3030 Spike Blake
140 0:13:10 3028 Bedo Aron Draskoczy
237 0:13:40 3031 Jack Davis-Black
264 0:13:50 3033 Stan Hasson
356 0:14:20 3034 Lucas Maher
387 0:14:30 3032 Avery Dietrich
457 0:14:56 3029 Frederick Beale
458 0:14:58 3035 Arthur Reed