National XC Champs 2017
After a week of fairly vile weather, conditions weren't too bad for the National XC Championships in Wollaton Park. The course had lost its beloved log hazard, but there was plenty more for the grizzled XC lover to appreciate, combining mud, water hazards, some fast stetches, and a remarkable profusion of tussocks. There was also a brilliant detour at the end of the senior races which took the competitors through the Dead Marshes out of the second Lord of the Rings film (or something that certainly looked very similar).
• View Tom Hosking's excellent photo gallery →
Junior races
A strong run from James Wooldridge was good enough for 31st place out of 211 junior men. There were also top 50 finishes for Jem and Liam (35th and 42nd) in the U17 men.
Thanks to a caprice of scheduling, the U13 boys race didn't go off until immediately before the senior women, which meant a long vigil for our runners who'd been up with the larks to get the youth team coach. It was worth the wait however, as a thrilling run from Ruairi saw him place 14th in a field of 458, within a minute of the winner.
Teamwise, the U13 boys were probably the pick of the litter, finishing 21st out of 48 teams. The U13 girls, led home by Rose, were 32nd of 52, and the U17 men, buoyed by Jem and Liam, placed 16th out of 25.
The undoubted highlight from a spectating point of view was watching one of the opposing junior men lose a shoe in the water hazard about 500 yards into his race, pull it out and stomp off the course with a face like thunder. One can only hope that he hadn't had to get a bus all the way from Carlisle for this sad and premature conclusion.
Meanwhile, well done to our youth team - and, of course, their coaches - and the very best of luck to them in the final NWYA fixture this weekend and to those running in the Interborough Challenge on Sunday.
Senior races
For the seniors, the race was more of a coda than a climax to the season, as we were looking a bit short of bodies and couldn't give numbers away (except to Mark George's brother and some randomer in a Celtic top). Nonetheless, when the gun went, everyone charged gamely off to face the uneven ground and mud traps.
Kelly crowned a fine debut Heathside XC season with a top-100 finish, leading the team to 14th place, ably supported by Cas, Josie and Ula, all of whom were well inside the top 200 of the 800-strong field. Behind them, there were solid runs from Rosa and Alice, and top marks for foolhardiness to Louisa for running a bare week after the marathon. Louisa nudged ahead of Jessica and Kim, and well done also to Katherine V - hopefully we'll see more of her at Heathside XC next season.
The men's race commenced, not unpredictably, with Rich Macaulay attempting to hare to the front. The effort clearly took a bit out of him, as he got caught by a clutch of other Heathsiders on the final lap - whereupon he hared off again and ended up inside the top 350 of a field of around 1,800. Hotter on his vaselined heels than a pair of habanero insoles was Dan Johns, who produced probably his best run yet to finish no more than six seconds back.
Further back in the field, there were close finishes between Stu and Joe (10 seconds, 599th and 611th), Dom and Francois (6 seconds, 777th and 792nd), and a thrilling, daring, last-gasp bid to crack the top 850, which saw Rajiv and Nick separated by just a second in 851st and 854th.
Date for the diary
Senior men (Team 31st of 131)
349 Rich Macaulay 0:47:07
360 Daniel Johns 0:47:13
387 Daniel McKeown 0:47:39
421 Simon Dunderdale 0:48:02
505 Peter Northall 0:49:06
599 Stuart Meiklejohn 0:50:21
611 Joseph McKeown 0:50:31
640 Jonathan Litchfield 0:50:51
661 Steve Armstrong 0:51:04
733 Chris Hartley 0:51:52
777 Dominic Jackson 0:52:28
792 Francois Barou 0:52:34
830 David Fallon 0:52:59
851 Rajiv Ratan 0:53:18
854 Nick Haward 0:53:19
966 Samuel Thompson 0:54:39
1042 Paul Tonkinson 0:55:45
1069 Gavin Evans 0:56:13
1212 Mark George 0:58:26
Senior ladies (Team 14th of 93)
88 Kelly Thorneycroft 0:33:10
138 Cas Wright 0:34:44
151 Josie Hinton 0:35:03
163 Ula Cartwright-Finch 0:35:25
243 Rosa Serafini 0:37:20
302 Alice Hosking 0:38:33
382 Louisa Pointon 0:40:08
440 Jessica Vinluan 0:41:11
513 Kimberli Butler 0:43:04
537 Katherine Vinnicombe 0:43:47
U13 (Team 21st of 48)
14 Ruairi McGonagle 0:12:51
133 Thomas Archer 0:13:53
219 Oliver O'Connor 0:14:21
306 Jack Davis-Black 0:15:00
375 Lucas Maher 0:15:36
391 Kit Naylor 0:15:50
432 Arthur Reed 0:16:33
Junior Men
31 James Wooldridge 0:34:57
170 Will Griffiths 0:40:13
U15 Girls
272 Martina Curcio 0:19:55
306 Ella Conlon 0:20:28
350 Evelyn Dumbleton 0:21:04
U17 Men (Team 16th of 25)
35 Jem O'Flaherty 0:21:48
42 Liam Garrett 0:21:54
244 Antanas Weston 0:25:23
269 Kenneth Boulton 0:26:32
U13 Girls (team 32nd of 52)
145 Rose Garrett 0:15:05
197 Nell Swinhoe 0:15:25
232 Matilda Heath 0:15:42
318 Lorna Dumbleton 0:16:20
449 Fabienne Weston 0:18:52
Junior Women
115 Genevieve Weston 0:29:08
U15 Boys
220 Jake Evans 0:17:30
318 Stan Brown 0:18:50
355 Lewis Selwyn 0:20:04
U17 Women
190 Lily McKay 0:24:08
196 Meg Naylor 0:24:19
242 Phoebe Crockford 0:26:25