Heathsiders take gold in Hackney Marshes & Trent Park
Heathsiders triumphed in the Hackney Marshes mud and rain at the North London Cross-Country Championships on Saturday, taking home both team winners’ trophies. Our four A-team women (Rachel Newstead, Cas Wright, Leah Michaels and Bethany Scott) were in the top 15 as were our six A-team men (Adam Kirk Smith, Andrew Brooker, James Woodridge, Andy Barnes, Martin Potter and Chris Norris) plus Tom Livermore. Our vets also took double gold, led by Martin among the men and Ourida Sid among the women.
The following day Adam Kirk-Smith, who is back in fine form after months of bicycle crash injury-induced absence, stormed home in an eye-catching time of 27:10 to win the Sunday League race at Trent Park. Our first woman (and the fifth woman home) was Rachel Newstead, who was also having her second race in two days.
Also worth highlighting were a pair of PBs in the Self-Transcendence 10k in Battersea Park on Saturday for Ryan McCrickerd (34:40) and Kimon Doulis (35:48) and an impressive half marathon time for Roger Braybroooks in the City of Norwich event on Sunday (75:57).
North London Cross-Country Championships, Saturday 21st November, Hackney Marshes
Here is Captain Chris’s report: “This cross-country season is already shaping up to be a memorable one for a number of reasons. After the rains of the last two weekends, a sudden blast of arctic wind blew down the exposed flatlands of Hackney Marshes on Saturday, making for more testing conditions than we’re used to so early in the season. Yet the more challenging the weather becomes, the more Heathside’s runners seem to thrive. With our Senior Women having stormed to the title of London Cross-Country Champions in the pouring rain last weekend, we ran riot in the icy blasts on the marshes on Saturday, winning the team competitions in both the Women’s and Men’s races, and in the Vets’ categories too!
In the Women’s race (6km of flat open fields and woodland trails), 13 hardy Heathsiders were among the 71 finishers. Rachel Newstead continued the excellent form she has demonstrated already this season with a 4th place finish, just 1 second ahead of Cas Wright in 5th. Cas is making an early bid for best newcomer of the season at Heathside, with another really impressive run. Indeed, it is a pleasure to see newer members getting amongst the results more generally. Lea Michaels (9th), and Bethany Scott (13th), are both new to the club, and wasted no time in claiming third and fourth finishing spots for Heathside, to complete the four-to-score Women’s A-team. Placing four in the first 13 finishers was easily enough to ensure that our Women beat Victoria Park and Eton Manor into second and third place respectively.
Ourida Sid (16th) is another newcomer to the club making a name for herself on the trail. Ourida was 5th for Heathside, and 3rd in the individual Women’s Vet competition. With Satu Hietanen in 25th (6th Vet), Jackie Wastell 34th (11th Vet), and Sandra Buckton 35th (12th Vet), the Vets’ Team prize was also secured. Fantastic running, Heathside!
In the Senior Men’s race, 131 of us took on the 8km course, of whom 27 were wearing the stylish blue, red, and gold. Heathside placed no fewer than 7 runners in the first 15 to finish. In the six-to-score Men’s team competition, Adam Kirk-Smith ran fabulously well to finish 4th overall. Behind Adam, the Heathside quality was everywhere: Andrew Brooker (6th), James Wooldridge (7th), Andy Barnes (10th), Martin Potter (11th), and Chris Norris (13th) made up the A-team scorers, with Tom Livermore (15th) leading the B-team. With that sort of strength on display, no other club really stood a chance, and Heathside’s Men duly won the event, pushing Serpentine into second, and Victoria Park into third. Great achievement, men!
Honourable mentions to Paul Mercer (39th) for giving Jonathan Hopkin (36th) a run for his money (I don’t seem to be up to it this season!); also to Joe McKeown and Mario Cadete, who are both having strong seasons. Massive respect, as always, to Ken Townson and Adrian Essex for their committed running, and to all the other men who proudly represented their club at Hackney Marshes. I salute you all.
A special mention for Martin Potter, Heathside’s Veteran machine of cross-country, back at full fitness, and storming to an 11th place finish, making him the first veteran over the line. With the individual Men’s Champion already safely home, Jonathan Hopkin (4th Vet), Paul Mercer (5th Vet), and Chris Hartley (6th Vet) secured the Men’s Vets title, ahead of no less august a team than Heathside Veterans B-team (Mario Cadete, Jonathan Litchfield, Rob Shulman, and Norman Mitchell). Serpentine were third Vets team.
All things considered, it couldn’t have gone much better for us. Double champions at Senior and Vet level!
Many, many thanks to Noelle O’Regan for taking over collection of the Women’s results when I had to run back to the start for the Men’s race, and to Rachel Newstead and Jackie Wastell for dealing with the Men’s results. Very much appreciated, and a job well done.
Heathside: I think we’re going to need a bigger trophy cabinet!
Next up is the traditional Fraternity and Sorority Cups, at Trent Park on Saturday 28th November. COYH!!”
Results
Senior Women (6,000m, 71 finishers)
(4th) Rachel Newstead 25.29
(5th) Cas Wright 25.30
(9th) Lea Michaels 26.56
(13th) Bethany Scott 27.22
(16th) Ourida Sid 27.30 (3rd vet)
(25th) Satu Hietanen 28.13 (6th vet)
(27th) Jenny Wing 28.22
(30th) Noelle O’Regan 28.49
(34th) Jackie Wastell 29.14 (11th vet)
(35th) Sandra Buckton 29.39 (12th vet)
(37th) Jess Vinluan 29.54
(39th) Emilia Vynnycky 30.04 (16th vet)
(43rd) Caroline White 31.04 (19th vet)
Senior Men (8,000m, 131 finishers)
(4th) Adam Kirk-Smith 29.46
(6th) Andrew Brooker 30.31
(7th) James Wooldridge 30.35
(10th) Andy Barnes 31.02
(11th) Martin Potter 31.04 (1st vet)
(13th) Chris Norris 31.15
(15th)Tom Livermore 31.33
(24th) Dan McKeown 32.20
(36th) Jonathan Hopkin 33:17 (4th vet)
(39th) Paul Mercer 33.23 (5th vet)
(46th) Sam Thompson 33.42
(49th) Chris Hartley 33.52 (6th vet)
(51st) Mario Cadete 34.00 (9th vet)
(52nd) Joe McKeown 34.09
(53rd) Jonathan Litchfield 34.09 (10th vet)
(56th) Marco Luna 34.31
(57th( Nick Haward 34.37 (11th vet)
(61st) Rob Shulman 34.48 (14th vet)
(62nd) Norman Mitchell 34.53 (15th vet)
(66th) Ollie Hopkins 35.04
(69th) Pete Crockford 35.10 (20th vet)
(72nd) Lee Connor 35.18 (21st vet)
(89th) Mark George 37.35 (29th vet)
(107th) Ben Montilla 40.46
(115th) Tim Sander 42.33
(116th) Ken Townson 43.14 (44th vet)
(121th) Adrian Essex 44.08 (48th vet)
Apologies for errors and omissions
Sunday League XC Race #2, Trent Park, 22/11/15 (approx. 5 miles)
And here is Gavin Parish’s Sunday League report:
A regrettable mix-up over dates saw me absent for this second race of the season, so I missed some fine performances from the 39 Heathsiders who turned out to race in chilly conditions. Laura Boothman reports that the course remained largely unchanged from previous years, with the section in the woods smelling pleasantly autumnal. The final hill was the usual muddy slog, but otherwise it was ‘beautifully sunny, and a huge contrast to last year when we nearly drowned.’
Top bragging rights go to Adam Kirk-Smith for his 1st place win in a record field of 495 runners – the day after leading Heathside’s men to victory at Hackney Marshes. Rachel Newstead also led home the winning women’s team the day before, and did so again here, finishing 5th woman out of 176. The pair of them ‘did the double’ along with ten other Heathsiders, who all get stars next to their names in the results for such stellar efforts!
Well done to all the other Heathsiders who took part and scored for the A and B teams or did their bit further down the field depriving rival clubs of higher points. Bob Gould remains Mr Consistent, once again coming 2nd in his age group. The continuing influx of newcomers are most welcome, and it was fantastic to have the junior Heathsiders cheering their support while running the course backwards with seemingly limitless energy. Thanks also to Jerry for collating the results.
Now for the truly astounding team results:
Not only did we field complete A and B teams for both the men and the women, but ALL of our teams came second in their league categories. This has to be the club’s most impressive all-round performance at a Sunday League fixture in a long time. Well done everyone!
Overall, after two fixtures, the men and women’s A teams are both in 6th place out of 20 (the men one place higher than last year; the women one place lower). The women’s B team are also 6th, while the men’s B team are 9th.
Men’s vets finished 5th and are now 7th overall, while women’s vets finished 6th and are also 7th overall.
To have A teams both in 6th place after two fixtures is a wonderful position to be in – thank you again, everyone who made this possible. Let’s keep that momentum going for fixture number 3!*
Results
Men (319 finishers)
1 Adam Kirk-Smith 27:10
5 Charles Hardy 28:18
17 Richard Macaulay 29:14
22 Andy Barnes 29:39
50 James Rigby 31:23
52 Jonathan Litchfield 31:27
57 Nick Haward 31:36
58 Phil Hogg 31:39
71 Gareth Marshall 32:08
75 Philip Duggan 32:20
79 Paul Lemmon 32:26 (4th M50)
102 Pete Crockfield 33:29
109 Mark George 33:49
167 Hassan Nahal 37:09
172 Nick Sausmarez 37:18
183 Marco Maserati 37:41
190 Ollie Pound 38:07
191 Ben Montilla 38:09
218 Alun Nash 39:10
223 Nilesh Goswami 39:29
225 Darrell Osborne 39:34
233 Steve Betts 39:56
240 Roy McDowall 40:38
273 Bob Gould 42:51 (2nd M70)
Women (176 finishers)
5 Rachel Newstead 33:24
15 Nicky Atkin 36:20
21 Rosie Edward 36:49
29 Jennifer Wing 37:39
32 Emma Mattsson-Duggan 37:45 (9th W35)
34 Sandra Buckton 37:59 (5th W45)
40 Noelle O'Regan 38:53
46 Jessica Vinluan 39:44
65 Kirsty Newland 41:07
75 Kerstin Kinkelin 41:54
99 Sarah Illingworth 43:35
120 Rebecca Taylor 45:47
127 Louise Cripps 46:28
131 Lyn Evans 46:41
148 Laura Boothman 48:29
Here is a photo album from the Sunday League at Trent Park:
https://kwperry.smugmug.com/Running/Sunday-League-201516/XC2-Trent-Park/
*The next Sunday League fixture will be on 6th December at Willian, between Hitchin and Letchworth (and NOT in Stevenage, as was originally advertised) – more details to follow when known.
Self-Transcendence 10k, Battersea Park, Saturday
Three of our runners took part with Ryan McCrickerd taking ninth place in a highly competitive field, followed by Kimon Doulis, (13th) Rebecca Sweet (133rd). Ryan and Kimon got PBs, with Ryan breaking his by more than a minute.
9 Ryan McCrickerd 34:40 (PB)
14 Kimon Doulis 35:48 (PB)
133 Rebecca Sweet 49:14
City of Norwich Half Marathon, Sunday
At the age of 47 Roger Braybrooks came within half a minute of his half-marathon PB, once again breaking the 76-minute barrier.
12 Roger Braybrooks 75:57
Wimbledon Half Marathon, Sunday
Valerie Keller-Crochet took a PB in comfortably breaking the two-hour barrier.
511 Valerie Keller-Crochet 1:57:49 (PB)
Park Runs, Saturday
Four Heathsiders triumphed in Parkruns on Saturday (and 37 took part in 11 English parks). Pride of place goes to Stuart Meiklejohn who was first out of 90 in Oak Hill in a time of 18:49. William Griffiths was first in Ally Pally in 19:46 and Rebecca Bunting, returning from a long, illness-induced layoff, was the first woman and seventh overall (out of 98) in 21:25.. Returning from an even longer layoff (plantar fasciitis in both feet) was our cross-country captain Cathy Jeremiah who won in Moors Valley (and was 10th overall out of 205) in a time of 20:15. Wonderful to see Cathy and Rebecca back and no doubt their winning times will improve by minutes after not too long. Here are the Parkrun results:
http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2015-11-2