Jem O'Flaherty & Rose Garrett: 1st Middlesex juniors in South of England XC Champs

Saturday saw 30-plus Heathsiders traipsing off to Oxford to compete in the South of England Masters’ and Inter-County championships. The performance of the day belonged to 16-year-old Jem O’Flaherty who was the first Middlesex runner home in the under 17 event, and came ninth overall. Rose Garrett also had an outstanding run as the first Middlesex girl in the under-15s (27th out of 109). And out V-50 men also excelled, with the A-team of Martin Potter, Chris Hartley and Ash Abrha narrowly missing out on the gold medal.

Here is former captain Chris Hartley’s report:

South of England Masters’ Cross-Country Championships, Horspath, Oxford, December 9

The Marvels of Cross-Country in the Golden Years - as Heathside Veterans Finish in a “White old Heap”

We made the schlep up the M40 for the now traditional pre-Christmas SEAA Masters X/C champs in Oxford, on a bright, cold morning that made for a rutted and hard session, and some nippy running too. Twenty-four elder statesmen from Heathside turned out for the club in a series of races that pitted us against the very best in the region. Thankfully there were plenty of porta-loos catering for the weak bladdered, and I’m pleased to say that the St John’s Ambulance presence was not called on, despite the sound of knees knocking and dentures chattering on the start line, and the rictus look on a few faces by the end of the day.

Racing started early, with the Men’s V50 and V60 race (9km) clocked so that competitors would be finished in time for an early afternoon nap. The V50 race welcomed young whippersnapper Martin Potter for his first go in this age group. Martin briefly led the race before settling into a solid top ten place, finally finishing 8th from a field of 145 finishers. Chris Hartley pushed Martin all the way, before settling for 9th place for the second consecutive year. Ash Abrha came in 17th, and third scorer for Heathside. Behind Ash Dom Jackson continued his strong showing this season at 28th, followed by Mark Jefford, Gavin Evans, Tony Kilillea, and Richard Peachment. In the V60 category Carl Heap finished 8th from 32, ending his fantastic run of autumn cross-country racing on a high.

Despite high hopes that Martin might guide the V50 team to victory this year, and despite getting our third scorer home before the eventual winners, Heathside had to settle for silver (for the third consecutive year), from twenty teams, thanks to Thames Hare and Hounds, who had the first and second place finishers in the race. Heathside’s B-team finished a very creditable seventh.

Following hard on the cracked heels of the V50/V60 men were the V40/V50/V60 women, who ran 6km in sprightly fashion. The V40s were led home by Satu Hietanen in 24th place from over 80 finishers. Satu was ably supported by Sif Summarlidadottir in 32nd, and Emilia Vynnycky in 37th. Madeleine Minson and Gabi Johnson also put in useful shifts, finishing 44th and 47th respectively. Heathside’s A-team finished 6th from 10 complete teams. As reigning V50 champions, Jackie Wastell (27th), Lou Le Ray (28th), and Ruth Miller (31st) had honour at stake. However, these races are anything but predictable; one or two athletes stepping up an age bracket can make the difference between glory and gloom. Sadly, our V50 team had to settle for 6th place this year. Nonetheless, with back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016, the team brought a tear to the eye (their own eye) with their battling performance. Super Caroline White finished 5th from 23 in the V60 race, looking not a second slower than when I first met her at Heathside over 15 years ago.

As morning turned to afternoon, and the old people’s homes of the Southern Counties began to re-fill, the V40 Men took their turn over the c9km men’s course. Here, Dan Johns provided perhaps the standout run of the day, finishing 18th in an extremely competitive field of 85. As a spectator, I can vouch for the speed and agility of the front-end of this race - it was a pleasure to watch. Dan was followed by John Driscoll, Paul Mercer, Jonathan Litchfield, Francois Barou, and Luka Melon. Steve Monaghan - who was in the loo when the race started - managed to work his way up the field before having to stop again, although it was for a calf strain this time, rather than a weak bladder.

In the team competition, Heathside’s V40 men finished 8th and 16th (for the B-team) from 17.

It was good to see more Heathsiders at this event than for several years, and we were all ably shouted on by the abnormally-lunged Captain Jake, who provided a continuous and welcome combination of loud encouragement and banter to those of us who could stay awake long enough to take part. Additional Heathside thanks to Gabi (flapjacks), Dave Walton (banana loaf), John Driscoll (soup), and to all the others who shared goodies (special thanks from me to Jake for the Jelly Babies). Seriously, the level of competition at the front of all these races is frighteningly high, and the numbers taking part suggest that cross-country is thriving among us older runners. It was a pleasure, as ever, to race against our peers in a convivial environment, and our Seniors did the club proud. Mince pies all round at the Heathside Xmas party!

• A brief addition (from Gavin): Ash Abrha, whose cross-country form improves with every race, was the 5th out of 44 V55s, while former Heathside road stalwart and cross-country also-ran Dan Madams, now running for Tonbridge AC as their sole masters’ representative, came a very lively 20th out of 49 finishers in the V40 race. Oh, and a huge thanks to Captain Jake for all his help.

SEAA Inter County Cross Country Championships, Horspath Fields, 9 December 2017

Two of Heathside’s fastest women and three of our best juniors joined the oldies in Oxford, but this time wearing different vest. Jem O’Flaherty, Rose Garrett, Mimi Blake and Spike Blake joined Rebecca Piggot and Sarah Swinhoe in very ably representing Middlesex in the South of England cross-country championships at Saturday afternoon.

As always, Jem delivered in style, coming a highly impressive 9th out of 99 very speedy 16-year-olds (and the first Middlesex runner) in a time over the 5k distance of 15:18.

Two of our under-15 girls competed, with Rose once again in outstanding form, coming 27th out of the 109 finishers, and she was also the first Middlesex girl home, in a time of 15:59 over the 3km course. Mimi also ran well, coming 61st. Her younger brother, Spike, represented Middlesex in the under-13 coming a very promising 37th out of 113.

Rebecca put in her usual perfectly-timed race and moved through the field to finish the 6k race in 27th place out of 71 finishers in 21:24, to end a fine comeback year after a long injury-induced layoff. She was the second Middlesex runner home (the first was Highgate’s Hannah Viner, in eighth place).

Cross-country captain Sarah was more than double the age many of her rivals, but still managed to leave several of them in her wake, finishing in 59th place in 22:50. She first competed in the Middlesex vest at the age of 16 – 31 years back.

Fellow cross-country captain Kelly Thorneycroft and Ella Waldman were also selected but were unavailable on the day.

Middlesex women came eighth out of 15 teams. They only had four runners in the field, compared with 20 for Surrey, who fielded five teams and came first, second, fourth and eighth.

Parkruns

Forty-two of our runners competed in 20 parkruns on Saturday with wins for Kenneth Boulton in Grovelands (18:07) and Chiara Borg in Oak Hill (20:48). The fastest Heathsider of the day was Mario Cadete, who came fourth in a time of 17:57 in Crissy Field, San Francisco. Good to see Super Mario still on-form. Here are the full Heathside results: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2017-12-02

Results
Men V50 (c9km, 145 finished)
8th Martin Potter 33.47
9th Chris Hartley 33.50
17th Ash Abrha 34.49 (5th V55)
28th Dom Jackson 35.21
30th Mark Jefford 35.28
57th Gavin Evans 37.39
73rd Tony Kilillea 38.48
91st Richard Peachment 40.56

Men V60 (c9km, 32 finishers)
8th Carl Heap 41.09

Women V40 (c6km, 59 finishers)
24th Satu Hietanen 24.24
32nd Sif Summarlidadottir 25.10
37th Emilia Vynnycky 25.28
44th Madeleine Minson 27.39
47th Gabi Johnson 28.48

Women V50 (c6km, 54 finishers)
27th Jackie Wastell 25.54
28th Lou Le Ray 26.00
31st Ruth Miller 26.48

Women V60 (c6km, 23 finishers)
5th Caroline White 27.04

Men V40 (c9km, 85 finishers)
18th Dan Johns 32.46
40th John Driscoll 34.40
44th Paul Mercer 34.56
50th Jonathan Litchfield 35.37
69th Francois Barou 38.00
75th Luka Melon 39.22
Also started: Steve Monaghan

SEAA Inter-County Cross-Country Championships, Horspath Fields, December 9

Under-17 men (5km) (99 finishers)
9th Jem O’Flaherty - 15:18 (first Middlesex)

Under-15 girls (3km) (109 finishers)
27th Rose Garrett – 15:29 (first Middlesex)
61st Mimi Blake – 15:56

Under-13 boys (3km) (113 finishers)
37th Spike Blake - no time given (2nd Middlesex)

Women (6km) (71 finishers)
27th Rebecca Piggott – 21:24 (2nd Middlesex)
59th Sarah Swinhoe – 22:50