Mud, sweat and joy – Heathsiders scale great heights on Parliament Hill

This week saw the Southern England Cross Country Championships, where 94 Heathsiders took on the other clubs in the region on Parliament Hill, one of the UK’s most anticipated cross-country venues. Despite steep, slippery slopes and seemingly endless mud, Heathsiders pulled off one of their best performances in regional cross country history, with the women’s and men’s teams coming 4th and 15th respectively. There were also some great individual performances, including those from club legend Adam Kirk-Smith, Rebecca Piggott and Rachel Seckl. A few Heathsiders also somehow escaped the mud, running in 10ks and half marathons elsewhere.

South of England Cross-Country Championships, Saturday 30th January, Parliament Hill [report by Chris Hartley]

There can be no doubt about it - the business end of the cross-country season is upon us. In fact, it’s all over my spikes and just about everything else I took with me to Parliament Hill on Saturday too. Here’s how it goes: Mud - check. Hills - check. Extra long race distances - check. Serious competition - check. H*ghgate gazebo and irritating sound system - check. No Dan Madams - check. With all that, and chip timing to boot, you know things are getting serious, right?

And serious it was on Parliament Hill on Saturday, as no less than 94 Heathsiders (18 Juniors, 27 Senior Women, and 49 Senior Men) took on one of the toughest courses in the country, in the muddiest of conditions, and delivered a set of results that demonstrates the incredible progress Heathside has made in cross-country running this season. So, look forward to some excellent results and prepare for tales of heroics, dogged commitment, borderline stupidity, and all the unhinged things that happen when Heathside takes on the Southern Champs!

Numbers taking part in the Junior races were a little disappointing this year, with Heathside fielding scoring teams in only two of the 8 events (Under-13 Girls and Under-15 Girls). Nonetheless, there were some excellent individual performances, not least Jem O’Flaherty, who finished 51st from 271 in the Under-15 Boys Race. Congratulations also to the rising stars of our Under-20s, who regularly take part in the Senior Races at the Met League, and who showed the benefits of their experience on Saturday. Rachel Seckl put in a fine shift to finish 22nd from 85 in the Under-20 Women’s race, along with the amazing Genevieve Weston who gave up her 18th birthday to compete (dedication!) whilst James Wooldridge finished a strong 18th from 94 finishers in the Under-20 Men’s race. The quality of the field in these races is very high indeed; Jacob Phillips - a fine athlete in the making - was 62nd in the Men’s Under-20s.

A mention here must go to John Driscoll - a fine photographer but a dodgy timekeeper - who arrived at Parliament Hill with daughter Kate a full two hours after Kate’s Under-13 race had taken place! John made a tentative effort to blame Ruth Miller for sending out the wrong race times before checking his e-mails and realising the mistake was all his. Luckily, Kate didn’t look too disappointed, or surprised. Ruth was all sang froid.

Heathside fielded 27 competitors amongst the 501 taking part in the Senior Women’s race. 8km of muddy hills is quite some challenge, and our ladies did us proud again from front to back. Watching the start of the Women’s race from the top of the first hill, it was clear that the competition was going to be tough from the gun, and by the time our women were reaching the top of the hill for the second time the shakeout had begun in earnest. Amongst a very quick field, a top 50 finish was a real prize. Rebecca Piggott (28th) and Ella Waldman (30th) can both consider themselves among the finest cross-country runners in the south of England. That Rebecca is only just back from injury, and Ella has had to juggle X/C with work commitments this season is testimony to the girls’ potential to go even further. Huge congratulations!

Behind Rebecca and Ella, Anna O’Hare had a cracking run, to finish 57th. Anna’s season has also been interrupted by injury, making her run on Saturday all the more impressive. Sue Rust, recovering from a nasty cold, nonetheless put in a typically determined shift, to finish 74th and fourth scorer for Heathside. Given the unavoidable effects of injury and so forth, Heathside’s Women showed just what great potential they have, finishing fourth from 53 competing teams, and just one point behind Herne Hill in third - agonisingly close to a bronze medal. Nonetheless, having finished in 7th spot last season, and with several scorers not fully fit, 4th place is a terrific achievement, and a real confidence boost ahead of the National Championships at the end of February. Pleasing also to finish ahead of H*ghgate, who didn’t look quite as strong on Saturday as they do in the Met League.

Elsewhere among the Senior Women, Colette Monahan kept up her impressive record this season with a 147th place finish. Satu Hietanen will surely be pleased with 167th spot in such a strong field. Nicky Atkin had a good run to finish 175th. Congratulations to Jackie Wastell, doin’ it for the Vets, with 237th, and late entry Ruth Miller, who finished in 325th spot. Fair play to Laura Boothman, another late entry, who made sure the rest of the Heathside contingent had finished safely before finishing a proud 467th herself. Terrific effort, Heathside Women, the Pride of Parliament Hill!

In the Senior Men’s race, well over 1,000 runners made the charge up the first hill, of whom 49 were diehard Heathsiders. Marco Luna (Marco Lunatic on this occasion) made the heroic effort of stepping off a plane from South Africa at 5.30am on Saturday and getting himself rested and ready to run 15km of heart-breaking hills and mud by 3.00pm. Marco - you’re the man, and well done on getting round. No such credit for Andy Barnes, who arrived at the start line after a decent-lie in without his chip timer and therefore gets no official result, despite slogging round the toughest race of the season. Muppet of the day award for that one, Andy! Thanks to some nifty detective work by Dan McKeown, it looks like Andy might have finished 155th in a time of 58.10, but we’ll never know for sure.

Adam Kirk-Smith accepted the challenge of attempting to lead the race to the top of the first hill; photographic evidence suggests that he almost did it! As foolhardy as this may seem, Adam nonetheless managed to battle out the other 14.5km and bagged himself a top 50 finish (41st). Having glimpsed the speed at which the front of the field was moving myself (only because the course had a long switchback, I hasten to add), I have some sense of what a top 50 place means in the Southern Champs. Huge congratulations on leading your club home, Adam. Charles Hardy (139th), Ryan McCrickerd (169th) and Andrew Brooker (177th, having lost places after stopping to re-tie his shoelaces) all put in great runs. Kimon Doulis (184th) set another new benchmark for himself with a really great run. Completing the six-to-score Heathside team was Dan McKeown, back to something like his best with a 231st place finish. Amongst 70 clubs who fielded teams, Heathside finished 15th - a strong result indeed, and a marked improvement on our 21st place last season. It might have been even better had Andy Barnes not run without his chip timer. Either way, without Tom Aldred in the side, and with James Wooldridge on Under-20 duties, that’s a fine effort indeed, men!

Edward Adams should be rightly pleased with his 304th place finish in only his second outing this season. Ed showed a muddy pair of heels to some crafty old hands who’ll be pleased with their efforts nonetheless, including Mark Anderson (336th), Captain Chris Hartley (365th), and Andy Welshman (391st). Great to see Steve Armstrong (386th) back where he belongs after injury - that’s a fine comeback run. Back down the field, Kris Milovsorov (594th) will be pleased to have edged ahead of coach Jacob Howe (600th), and the Marco-Mario-Marco battle was won by Mr Luna (575th), ahead of Mr Cadete (590th) and Mr Maserati (792nd).

Dan McKeown has goaded people into some foolhardy things in his time at Heathside (taking on Jacob Howe in the PoT Fantasy Met League, and leading unwary souls to Met League/Sunday League doubles being by no means the most egregious examples). Dan Wrapson has every right to be wondering how Dan talked him into making his cross-country debut at the Southern Champs. Foolhardy, perhaps, but Dan (Wrapson) showed that he is no faint heart, and made his way round the course in a little over an hour and twenty-two minutes, finishing 919th. Tidy debut, Dan. I hope we’ll see you for your second X/C race at Ally Pally.

Many thanks indeed to everyone who came along to support the club at Parliament Hill, including, as always, ODL and Pete Holland. Several people have told me how inspiring they found the cheering out on the course. I’ll add my vote to that. Thanks also to Ken Townson and Paul Mercer for helping with the clear-up operation at Heathside base camp after the event, and for carrying the muddy tarpaulin off the course. Respect.

Next up, the Grand Finale to the Met League season at Ally Pally on 13th February. It’s our home fixture, and there’s a great deal at stake. So get your diaries out. Then go and clean your spikes!

Victoria Park Half marathon, 31st January 2016

Congratulations are due to Bethany Scott, who, despite the drizzly, windy conditions, had a great run in Victoria Park on Sunday, winning in 1:24:23 and coming 8th overall.

Hyde Park 10K and the Polar 10k, 31st January 2016

Mark sent in the following report from Hyde Park, starting with a hint of irony: “Surprisingly only three recorded Heathsider's participated in the well attended Hyde Park 10K held on a grey and rainy morning. The course consisted of 2 laps of a flat if rather twisty route around the park. Jesper recorded a PB despite some malfunction with the chip costing us some seconds.”

Meanwhile, 11 Heathsiders ran with over 10,000 others in one of the latest fund-raising events organised by Cancer Research UK, running from Trafalgar Square to Whitehall, past the Bank of England and Somerset House. They were led home by new member, Matthew Cockerill who, listed in the results under Hampstead triathlon club, came 20th overall and achieved a PB (36:36). As Gabi reports, another new member, Ciara Owens, had an eventful start: “Ciara....finished pos 980 but she started too far back and had to struggle with congestion for the first few kms so ended up with a disappointing chip time of 43 minutes odd and a fast finish."

Parkruns

There were some notable performances in the parkruns. Jessica Vinluan deserves a special mention for running in a parkrun in the morning and also running in the cross-country in the afternoon. There were also wins by Alice Hosking, Richard Macaulay and Tom Aldred.

RESULTS

Southern Cross Country, Parliament Hill, 30th January 2016

Under-20 Men (94 finishers)

18 J Wooldrige 00:28:46

62 J Phillips 00:32:08

Under-20 Women (85 finishers)

22 R Seckl 00:25:10
64 G Weston 00:29:10

Under-17 Boys (173 finishers)

93 D Keto 00:23:35

146 W Griffiths 00:25:27

151 A Weston 00:25:51

Under-15 Boys (271 finishers)

51 J O'Flaherty 00:18:02

96 L Garrett 00:18:41

233 G Bazzarelli 00:21:04

Under-15 Girls (244 finishers, Team: 27/27)

123 M Naylor 00:20:41

171 L McKay 00:21:54

239 E Conlan 00:25:48

244 P Adugna 00:27:28

Under-13 Boys (267 finishers)

219 O O'Connor 00:15:07

Under-13 Girls (268 finishers, Team: 32/34)

177 R Garrett 00:15:25

182 M Heath 00:15:28

220 A Walker 00:16:07

227 E Dumbleton 00:16:15

Senior Women (501 finishers, Team 4th/53)

28 R Piggott 00:33:03

30 E Waldman 00:33:08

57 A O'Hare 00:34:44

74 S Rust 00:35:12

88 C Wright 00:35:52

103 L James 00:36:20

147 C Monahan 00:37:55

155 C Jeremiah 00:38:13

167 S Hietanen 00:38:38

171 S Ourida 00:38:42

175 N Atkin 00:38:48

181 U Cartwright-Finch 00:39:00

237 J Wastell 00:40:32

242 J Wing 00:40:44

248 E Guijarro 00:40:50

261 L Pointon 00:41:32

280 H Carmichael 00:42:06

286 C Doherty 00:42:16

289 J Vinluan 00:42:32

293 H Standforth 00:42:47

325 R Miller 00:44:09

328 K Vinnicombe 00:44:23

339 N O'Regan 00:44:39

404 K Kinkelin 00:47:46

422 K Butler 00:49:05

439 A Harrow 00:50:32

467 L Boothman 00:54:27

Senior Men (1,000+ finishers, Team 15th/71)

41 A Kirk-Smith 00:53:44

139 C Hardy 00:57:33

(155 A Barnes 00.58.10) No chip time.

169 R McCrickerd 00:58:38

177 A Brooker 00:58:46

184 K Doulis 00:58:59

231 D McKeown 01:00:23

249 D Hellard 01:00:48

283 J Hopkin 01:01:41

300 A Whatmough 01:02:23

304 E Adams 01:02:26

336 M Anderson 01:03:16

347 S Meiklejohn 01:03:28

359 P Bakewell 01:03:42

365 C Hartley 01:03:46

367 T Stephenson 01:03:47

386 S Armstrong 01:04:25

391 A Welshman 01:04:32

397 P Mercer 01:04:35

413 J Litchfield 01:05:01

427 L Wyne 01:05:24

428 D Jackson 01:05:25

449 R O'Grady 01:05:47

450 P Duggan 01:05:48

451 N Haward 01:05:50

464 A Mitchell 01:06:10

465 S Thompson 01:06:11

466 P Jarman 01:06:14

526 M Fassnidge 01:07:57

552 J Spencer 01:08:22

559 G Evans 01:08:40

575 M Luna 01:09:03

590 M Cadete 01:09:32

594 K Milovsorov 01:09:37

600 J Howe 01:09:43

618 R Shulman 01:10:03

655 J McKeown 01:10:50

657 B Jenks 01:10:57

664 H Hamilton 01:11:07

675 L Connor 01:11:26

778 A Latham 01:14:58

792 M Maserati 01:15:24

821 J Costley 01:16:18

890 H Nahal 01:20:16

903 C Hamer 01:21:03

919 D Wrapson 01:22:13

949 T Sander 01:24:30

951 C Heap 01:24:40

980 K Townson 01:28:30

995 B Montilla 01:31:40

Victoria Park Half, 31st January 2016

8 Bethany Scott 1:24:23 (1st F)

Hyde Park, 31st January 2016

42nd Mark George 42.01

65th Jesper Lycke 43.41 ( PB)

445th Cat Jones 56.38

Polar 10K, Cancer Research UK London Winter Run, 31st January 2016

Name

Chip Time

Matthew Cockerill