Heathside women excel in Nationals
Sue Rust led Heathside’s women to an impressive 10th place in the English Cross Country Championship in cold, muddy, snowy Sunderland on Saturday.
To put this in perspective, they were up against the top clubs and runners in the land, so coming 10th out of 46, despite several of their top runners being absent, was a fine way to end the cross country season. Sue came 45th out of 427 finishers, making her one of the 50 finest cross country runners in the country. And our under-strength men’s team also put in a reasonable showing with Tom Aldred leading them home in 130th place (out of 1,085 finishers). The team came a respectable 26th out of 80 on the six-to-score basis (and 17th on the nine-to-score) – and were third in the London Metropolitan area.
Other team members to excel among the seniors included Claire Morrisey (81st), who has finished the season in stonking form, Anthony Hall (223rd), who seems to get better with every race, and Big Bad Dan McKeown (256th), who has been consistently strong the whole season. Among the juniors, boys and girls perhaps the most impressive showing was Liam Garrett’s 67th position (out of 205 finishers) in the U-13 race.
But before getting on to Dan’s race report, a few others are worth mentioning from among the 47 Heathsiders who raced this weekend:
· Adrian Essex came second in the British Masters’ Indoor Pentathlon Championships at Lee Valley on Sunday in the V60 category (yes, that’s not a typo – he really is V60: remarkable), with 2883 points. “Despite matching last year’s high jump performance and improving on last year in the other four events, I still did not break the 3000 point barrier,” he reported. An outstanding performance, nevertheless.
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· Roger Braybrooks ran in the Great Northwest Half Marathon on Sunday and came 11th (and the third V40) in an eye-catching time of 75:21.
· Henry Hamilton was one of 2 800 runners to brave the cold, hilly Kent countryside for what he says was a well-organised Tunbridge Wells half. He finished 131st in a time of 1:31:30 (PB?)
· Georgie Kennedy doubled up (always impressive) running the Gladstone Parkrun on Saturday and then the all-terrain Baldock Beast Half on Sunday, in a time of 1:44.52. She described it as a “nice, small and friendly in its second year – highly recommended although very cold”.
· Andy Owen was another stalwart who doubled up, following his solid performance in the Sunderland mud with another muddy race on Sunday – the Ilkely Moor 5m Fell race, where he came 57th out of 221 finishers.
· And among the Parkrunners, Leigh James delivered the standout performance - the first woman in the Finsbury Park event in a time of 19:45.
A slightly truncated version of Dan’s report follows:
This year's English Cross Country Championships were in Herrington Park, Sunderland, a rolling course with deep cloying mud and a rather pretty covering of snow, which had arrived overnight (but didn't make much difference to the mud, other than to render it freezing cold). The worst of the mud was reserved for the finishing straight, which was like one of those nightmares you have where you're trying to run away from something but can't move.
Our first challenge was actually getting there. Claire 'late for her own funeral' Morrisey was nearly an inglorious DNS at King's Cross, having set off late and gone to Saint Pancras by mistake. No one realised she'd made it on to the train until we'd left the station. Happily, we weren't on the same train as Highgate: I'd had visions of them bawling abuse at us through their bullhorn, us waving cowbells in retaliation and not being able to concentrate on my sudoku because of the noise.
We arrived in good time and got to see the U20 men's race go off. Miron and Daniel were dressed for the cold conditions and (hopefully) ready for the mud. Both have run well for Heathside's senior men in the Met League this year and gave a fair account of themselves here, finishing 115 and 128 of 142, which isn't bad, given most of these 'juniors' looked about 6' 9" and had chins you could strike a match on.
Next up was the women's race and a chance to build on their medal-winning heroics in the Southerns last week. Sue was looking for a top 50 finish and didn't disappoint, carrying her own diminutive frame plus several kilos of mud round the 8k course for 45th place, which deserves a huge round of applause.
"First time ever that I couldn't feel my feet throughout the whole race. Luckily they knew what to do, just about," said a beaming post-race Rust, standing ankle-deep in a trough of steaming manure.
On the back of this, the rampant Heathside women gate-crashed the top ten in the four-to-score teams competition: Claire Morrisey, thankfully, was much quicker out of the blocks than she was out of bed, hoofing it to a brilliant individual 81st place.
She was ably supported by great runs from Fiona (117), in her Heathside XC swansong, and Cathy J (168). Claire Thornhill also ran well for 249th place and actually looked like she was enjoying herself, in poignant contrast to the anguished faces around her.
A major highlight of the cross country season has been the support the men's and women’s teams have shown each other, but Anthony and I realised we may have taken it a bit far we suddenly noticed it was eight minutes until the men's race and we were still out on the course. What followed was a Morrisey-esque dash to the start, via the Heathside assembly point for me to actually get changed. I was still pinning my number on when the gun went, but at least quite well warmed up.
Our big hope for the men was a high placing for Tom but a combination of his previous week's heroics, hot competition and deep mud saw him squelch in outside the top 100. "Why, oh why didn't I do more Met League," howled the crestfallen Aldred, beating his fists on the floor afterwards. Deeply moving stuff.
My personal big hope of the day was to give Anthony the beating I'm convinced he's got coming to him, but he put me right back in my box, zooming past on the second lap to finish 223 to my 256. Captain Chris was next over the line (407), delighted to be able to sling his XC spikes back behind the sofa for another couple of months. Behind him were Andy Owen (444), John Flahive (477), Stormin' Norman (513), Alex Sweet (541), Pete Crockford (591) and Russell Weston (1014).
Unable to match the women, the men were 26th in the six-to-score. "The senior men, as expected, failed to make an impression, which is not because we don't have the quality, but because much of it was in London, not Sunderland," said Captain Chris, glancing up briefly from the book he'd been reading all the way round the course.
After the race, we looked like a collection of chimney sweeps, it was that muddy. Happily the cab drivers we'd booked were still prepared to let us on board, after laying newspaper over all the seats. The train journey back was an absolute blast, as anyone that's seen our pics on Facebook can probably imagine. If you want in, make sure your name's down for the Nationals next year! I'll simply leave you with the following little-known facts we learned during the day:
Tom's middle name is Crispin. Even so, he doesn't read The Telegraph.
In Cathy J, we have the all-time world champion of the trucker's wash. Most people don't look so good after a day at a spa.
Weekend results
English Cross Country Championships, Sunderland, February 23
U/13 G
211 Phoebe Crockford 15:16
250 Rachel Finke 16:59.
U/15 G
146 Genevieve Weston 22:03
U/13 B
67 Liam Garrett 12:41
70th Isaac Costley 12:42
153 Antanas Weston 13:58.
U15 B
177 Mason Dietrich 18:59.
U/17 M
137 James Wooldridge 22:43
JM – U-20 (10km)
115 Miron Woldemichael 42:42
128 Daniel Szajna 44:33
SW (8k) (427 finishers)
45 Sue Rust 34:13
81 Claire Morrisey 36:14
117 Fiona Alston 37:29
168 Cathy Jeremiah 39:44
249 Claire Thornhill 42:39
SM (12k) (1.085 finishers)
130 Tom Aldred 46:54
223 Anthony Hall 49:32
256 Dan McKeown 50:25
407 Chris Hartley 53:43
444 Andy Owen 54:28
477 John Flahive 55:05
513 Norman Mitchell 56:08
541 Alex Sweet 56:41
591 Pete Crockford 57:46
1014 Russell Weston `1:12:46
BMAF South of England Veterans Indoor Championships, Lee Valley, February 24
60m Race 7, V40
5th Michael Bense 8.13 (PB)
200m Race 8, V40
4th Michael Bense 26.89 (PB)
British Masters’ Indoor Pentathlon Championships, Lee Valley, February 24
M60
2nd Adrian Essex 2883 points (60m hurdles – 11.95; long jump – 4.29m; shot put – 8.69m; high jump – 1.30m; 1,000 m – 3:44:66
Great North West Half Marathon, February 24
11. Roger Braybrooks 75:21 (3rd V40)
Baldock Beast Half Marathon , February 24
Georgie Kennedy 1:44:52
Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon, February 24
160 Henry Hamilton 1:31.30
Great North West Half Marathon
Dave Hellard 2:28:27
Ilkely Moor Fell Race (5 miles)
57 Andy Owen 48:58
Parkruns, February 23
| Ally Pally (27 participants) |
| 4 Dominic JACKSON 00:20:53 |
| 5 Rob SHULMAN 00:20:57 |
| 13 Julie KHAN 00:24:08 |
| Colwick (138 participants). |
| 44 Agi PALANKI 00:24:51 |
| Finsbury Park (113 participants) |
|
16 Leigh JAMES (first woman) 00:19.45
5 David HELLARD 00:18:39
|
| 17 Costi STAVRIANAKIS 00:19:46 |
| 28 James KELLY 00:21:05 |
| 39 Jane HIGGINS 00:21:57 |
| 66 Sarah ILLINGWORTH 00:24:33 |
| 75 Aislin MAGEEAN 00:25:20 |
| Gladstone (92 participants) |
| 17 Nick DE SAUSMAREZ 00:21:51 |
| 29 Georgie KENNEDY 00:23:11 |
| Hackney Marshes (32 participants). |
| 5 Jake Leon Justin LEE 00:19:42 |
| Hampstead Heath (93 participants) |
| 49 Andrew Simon CONWAY 00:26:04 |