Heathside women seventh in Southerns
Sparse picking this week, but good stuff nevertheless. Aside from a 10k PB from Emerson Paul and some fine Parkrun showings, lit was all about the South of England Cross Country championships at lovely Stanmer Park, near Brighton, where 58 of us braved the hills, appreciated the firm ground and relished the views: 15k for the men; 8 for the women (odd, that, but don’t get me started…)
Several of our runners put in eye-catching performances including, among our juniors, Ruariri McGonagle, Liam Garrett, James Wooldridge and Meg Taylor.
The women’s team finished seventh overall – particularly impressive since we’ve lost Ni to down-under and several of our stars, including Sarah, Ella and Claire Miller, were injured or unavailable. Sue Rust was first home in 33rd place (out of 352) after a ding-dong with Rebecca Piggott (back home after her PhD got the thumbs-up in Edinburgh), followed by Rachel Newstead and Rebecca Bunting (who also ran a Park Run, plus a long jog that morning). All of them were in the top 20 percent of finishers. The rapidly-improving Jane Higgins and the returning Captain Cathy Jeremiah, who was feeling unwell, were also within the top 100.
Among the men Tom Aldred, who was running injured, was way out in front among the Heathsiders – 57th out of 857. The other scorers were George Stewart, Chris Norris, Matt Colins, Andrew Brooker and Sam Thompson, who ran the race of his life.
Anyway, here is Captain Chris’s report:
South of England Cross-Country Championships, Stanmer Park, Brighton,
Saturday 24th January
Howe, the ‘Man Down’ on the Downs as Thompson shows stamina at Stanmer Park
“Well, we all came on to Stanmer Park / On the English Channel coastline / To run
cross-country at the Southerns / We didn’t waste much time.” One for the Vets, that.
It’s been three years since the Southern Champs last took place at Stanmer Park near Brighton, and I can confirm, on the evidence of our return, that slope morphology is bunk. The theory of erosion suggests that, as the great Rowan Atkinson almost once said, the mountains of the earth will, over time, be laid low. If anything, however, the hills at Stanmer park seem to have got bigger since we were last there. Or perhaps my aging body has just shrunk a bit. Either way, despite the bright sunshine and crisp winter weather, it was a slog just getting round the course.
That said, no fewer than 58 Heathsiders (19 Juniors, 14 Senior Women, and 25 Senior Men) took on the precipitous heights of Stanmer Park, and lived to tell the tale. What follows is a brief precis of their story.
Among the Junior races, all of which were highly competitive and well attended, there was an eye-catching performance from our Under-11 tyro, Ruairi McGonagle, who, with no Under-11 race to compete in, waded into the snake pit of the Under-13 Boys race, and finished a fabulous 99th from 227 finishers over 3km. Congratulations also to Meg Naylor, 113th from 235 finishers in the Under-15 Girls race, Liam Garrett, moving up into the Under-15 Boys race, where he finished 108th from 233, and James Wooldridge whose experience in the Senior races at the Met League this season paid off with a 49th place finish from 108 in a very fast Under-20 Men’s Race.
Watching the Junior races it was impossible not to be impressed by how fast they were run, boys and girls alike striding purposively up the hills as if they were in a hurry to get home in time for tea (which I daresay they were). Elite cross-country looks alive and well for the next
generation, not least at London Heathside.
On to the Seniors, where in the 8km Women’s race (352 finishers), Sue Rust (a very impressive 33rd in a time of 32.47), led a strong four-to-score Heathside team home, ahead of Rebecca Piggott (43rd in 33.11), Rachel Newstead (71st in 34.55), and Rebecca Bunting (77th in 35.08). Heathside Women, Our Dear Leader informs us, finished 7th in the team competition - not bad at all, given the competition.
Had the scoring team been larger, we’d have undoubtedly ranked higher. Impressive strength- in-depth, ladies! Behind Rebecca, Jane Higgins continued to scale new performance heights, adding Cathy Jeremiah to her already impressive list of scalps this season.
Cathy’s month in Australia, I hope she won’t mind me saying, is not currently looking like the best advert for a mid-season break from cross-country! Mind you, stepping from the summer of the southern hemisphere into the winter of the southern champs would be a bit of a shock for anyone. Huge respect to the ‘Two Rebeccas’ (Piggott and Bunting), both of whom were at the 9am Sunday run the next morning, mixing it up with the likes of Julian Ferraro and Ed Samuel over 18 miles!
For the Senior Men, the Southern Champs is the Daddy of all cross-country: 15 gruelling kilometers of hills over terrain that seemed unsuited to any sort of spikes - too hard for long spikes in places, too slippy around sharp bends for anything else in others. The course was either heading sharply up, or hair-raisingly down. It was like an hour-plus on Kabir’s flipping roller-coaster!
All of which makes Sam Thompson’s effort easily his race of the season, and all the more impressive. Sam made a strong start and never faded, seeing off his usual competition (including me) in fine style, rubbing shoulders instead with the likes of Matt Collins and Andrew Brooker. Sam’s finishing place of 288th (from a field of 857) doesn’t fully reflect the quality of his run. The front end of the Men’s race was very competitive indeed. Even Tom Aldred, leading the team home by over 4 minutes, only (I say ‘only’ - it’s actually a commendable achievement!) finished 57th. Finishing in the top half of this race took spirit, determination, guts, and experience.
In the six-to-score competition, Tom led a team that included George Stewart (178th, in a time of 59.10), Chris Norris (188th, also breaking the hour in a time of 59.24), Matt Collins (225th, in 1.00.18), Andrew Brooker (268th in 1.01.34), and, of course, Sam. As far as I know, our Men’s Team didn’t make an impression on the leader board. But you know what? The race was about the club: 25 men in the iconic Heathside vest getting stuck into those hills and living to tell the tale.
Elsewhere among the Heathside contingent, Jacob Howe stumbled into a pot hole at the very start of the race, and found himself getting somewhat trampled as he fell. The cries of ‘man down!’ led a few competitors to duck for cover, allowing Jacob to get up, continue his run, and finish a creditable 494th.
Elsewhere amongst the Senior Men, Howard Gold took his revenge on me after his humbling at Perivale in the Met League, finishing 296th in 1.02.26. No such luck for Richard Macaulay, 328th in 1.03.26, who couldn’t turn his speed downhill into a repeat of his Hartley-humbling performance at the Met League. Bring on the Scrubs, gentlemen! John Driscoll picked-up an injury early in the race but hung on to finish a nonetheless impressive 349th, in a time of 1.04.03. Ken Townson has to be pleased with his run. Although he made up the rear of the Heathside contingent, his time of 1.27.50 was very respectable indeed, though not quick enough to get him back to base in time for the team photo (again!). We’ll wait for you at Wormwood Scrubs on 7th February, Ken. That’s a promise!
Respect to every single Heathsider who made the trip, took on the hills, and came out to tell the tale. I hope those who stayed to enjoy the rest of the weekend in Brighton had a lovely time. Did anyone manage an English Channel ice bath?
Many thanks to all our supporters out on the course, including Pete Holland and ODL (as in Our Dear Leader, Jerry ODLin). And thanks also to those who helped clear ‘Camp Heathside’ of litter at the end of the afternoon, packing the tarpaulin and flag for the wonderful Boyle clan to transport back to North London in their car. Much respect and affection due.
Canterbury 10m, Sunday 25th January
The steadily-improving Emerson Paul put in fine PB in cold Canberbury, completing the distance in 70:19 (144th our of 816 finishers).
Parkruns
A total of 39 of our runners took part in Parkruns on Saturday, with first places for Andy Barnes in Hampstead (17:51) and Preston Park for Rebecca Bunting (19:53). Here are the rest of the results: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2015-01-24%20
Results
South of England Cross Country Championships
Under-13 Girls, (3km, 247 finishers)
185. Rose Garrett 13.36
202. Ella Conlon 13.49
Under-13 Boys (3km, 227 finishers)
99. Ruairi McGonagle 11.43
Under-15 Girls (4km, 235 finishers)
113. Meg Naylor 16.52
144. Phoebe Crockford 17.10
200. L. McKay 18.31
213. Rachel Finke 19.17
Under-15 Boys (4.5km, 233 finishers)
108. Liam Garrett 17.11
149. L. Gray 17.52
156. I. Costley 17.58
179. Antanas Weston 18.22
Under-17 Women (5km, 146 finishers)
119. Genevieve Weston 22.57
Under-17 Men (6km, 156 finishers)
91. Jacob Phillips 23.42
117. William Griffiths 24.41
147. Marco Calderazzo 27.29
Under-20 Women (6km, 51 finishers)
46. Emma Ford 30.07
Under-20 Men (8km, 108 finishers)
49. James Wooldridge 29.53
93. Connor O’Shea 34.48
97. Daniel Szajna 35.37
Senior Women (8km, 352 finishers)
33. Sue Rust 32.47
43. Rebecca Piggott 33.11
71. Rachel Newstead 34.55
77. Rebecca Bunting 35.08
92. Jane Higgins 35.59
100. Cathy Jeremiah 36.33
117. Angela Howe 37.16
126. Jackie Wastell 37.43
172. Caroline Boyle 39.36
183. Elizabeth Beard 40.17
191. Louisa Pointon 40.27
220. Noelle O’Regan 41.48
253. Jessica Vinluan 43.17
258. Edyta Szot 43.37
Senior Men (15km, 857 finishers)
57. Tom Aldred 54.46
178. George Stewart 59.10
188. Chris Norris 59.24
225. Matt Collins 1.00.18
268. Andrew Brooker 1.01.34
288. Sam Thompson 1.02.12
296. Howard Gold 1.02.26
301. Chris Hartley 1.02.37
316. Steve Armstrong 1.03.08
328. Richard Macaulay 1.03.26
341. Jonathan Hopkin 1.03.55
349. John Driscoll 1.04.03
372. Paul Mercer 1.04.38
384. Stuart Meiklejohn 1.05.07
392. Dan McKeown 1.05.29
411. Gavin Evans 1.05.47
419. Dominic Jackson 1.06.10
427. Jonathan Litchfield 1.06.22
472. Tony Kililea 1.07.34
494. Jacob Howe 1.08.17
514. Lee Connor 1.09.08
531. Rob Shulman 1.09.43
677. Carl Heap 1.15.25
706. Brian Boyle 1.17.05
826. Ken Townson 1.27.50
Canterbury 10m
144th Emerson Paul – 70:19 (PB)