No Gold in Sight, but Gould Glitters in the Storm on the Heath

It is probably fair to say that Parliament Hill has never proved such a tough course as it did for the Southern Counties cross-country championships on Saturday. Not only was the mud somehow muddier than before, the hills somehow hillier, but the latter stages of the Senior Men's race was further insulted by a thunder storm the like of which makes Lear's heath scene look like a summer picnic. The Wessex King himself, disguised as a Barnet AC Vet, was brave enough to take what was coming to him. But where was the Fool?

Before the winners laurels are handed out, I'd like to say congratulations to Heathside's hardiest Veteran (V70), Bob Gould. In the face of a storm of biblical proportions, Bob muttered 'Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks!' (or something like that), dug in, and finished what is unquestionably the toughest race in the club's cross-country calendar in a very creditable 99m28s. Bob, your club salutes you.



(More photos on the London Heathside Facebook page, or these Flickr pages, courtesy of Barbara and Steve.)

Like the rest of us, the Juniors clearly found the going tough on Parliament Hill. All the Heathside teams finished in the bottom half of the team rankings. Nonetheless, there were fantastic runs amongst the Juniors, from front to back. Performances of the day came from Liam Garrett, who finished 55th from 284 in the Under-13 Boys Race, and Johnny Naylor, who was 95th from 209 in the Under-17 Men's Race.

In the Senior Women's race (8km), Heathside's contingent of 18 competitors made four teams (four-to-score), finishing 7th, 21st, 37th, and 45th from 72 teams taking part. Most impressive. Sarah Swinhoe was the first Heathsider home with a superb 29th place, in a field of 466 competitors. Race of the day, however, came from Sue Rust, who tightened her spikes, pulled-up her socks, set her recent injuries aside, and raced to a fantastic 32nd place finish, a mere 12 seconds behind the Swinhoe machine. Anyone fancy a wager on Wormwood Scrubs next month? Great to see Sue getting back towards her best. Elsewhere in the Women's Race, Claire Morrissey's Marathon des Sables training is clearly paying off, as she stormed to a 98th place finish, ahead of the ever-reliable Cathy Jeremiah (120th). Congratulations also to Eleanor East, and Louise Pointon, who made their cross-country maiden outings this season for the hardest race of them all, and finished a very creditable 169th and 309th respectively. Props also to Caroline Boyle, whose season is clearly on an upward trajectory, as she came in with a 241st place finish, edging a serene-looking Tamella Platt into 246th.

In the Senior Men's Race (15km), Heathside fielded 33 competitors in a field of 986, comprising 5 teams (six-to-score), finishing 16th, 33rd, 62nd, 87th, and 101st from 110 teams taking part. Nice work, men! Tom Aldred again showed that he is one of the best cross-country runners in the region, with a 26th place individual finish. Meanwhile, the race between the 'SuperVets' ('Look out! It's SuperVet!'), George Stewart and Steve Monaghan served up another corker, with the old codgers going shoulder-to-shoulder the whole way before Steve hit the front on the home straight, to finish second for Heathside in 151st place, leaving George spitting mud five seconds behind in 154th place. Gents, you gave the Heathside rabble a proper treat. Further back, Dave Hellard showed his tough guy prowess once again, finishing 6th for Heathside, in 242nd place. Congratulations also to Sergio Di Noto, back to cross-country for the first time following injury, who survived the extremely tough conditions to finish 507th. Jacob Howe achieved his post-injury cross-country goal for this season, by starting and finishing the race (784th). And, again, congratulations to Bob Gould, who made Tom's run in the sun look easy by finishing in conditions that were, frankly, a threat to personal safety.

No gold medals then, and no Gold either. But cross-country doesn't get any harder than that. I'm sure all the 82 Heathsiders who slogged through the mud for their club will join me in wishing happy holidays to absent friends!

Results (apologies for any errors due to number allocation)
Under-13 Boys (3km), 284 finishers

55    Liam Garret        12.57
212    Tom Carter        14.44
214    Olly Selby        14.44
270    Rocco Lofinmakin Dutta    16.42
278    Rory Butler        17.02


Under-15 Boys (4.5km), 258 finishers

142    William Griffiths        18.56
180    Mason Dietrich            19.28
194    Isaac Costley                19.46
205    Luke Gray                    20.04
227    Antanas Weston            21.02
257    William Olney              26.53

Under-17 Men (6km), 209 finishers

95    Johnny Naylor            24.15
156    Charlie Butler        25.43
158    Thomas Griffiths    25.48
178    Jacob Griffiths        26.52
198    Blue Weiss              28.30

Under-20 Men (8km) 105 finishers

88    Daniel Szajna        34.14


Under-13 Girls (3km) 292 finishers

136    Meg Naylor            15.11
174    Phoebe Crockford    15.41
205    Lily McKay            16.11
231    Rachel Finke            16.35
264    Kitty Pinder            17.32
273    Ella Conlon            17.53
274    Anna Richmond      17.53
289    Aaliyah Lakeman    19.57


Under-15 Girls (4km), 285 finishers

206    Ottavia Laidler    19.53
213    Jessica Matthews    20.05
263    Molly Harrison    21.42
269    Naomi Conlon    22.27

Under-17 Women (6km) 151 finishers

92    Genevieve Weston    24.45

Under-20 Women (6km), 78 finishers

64    Yanna Raykov    31.49

Senior Women (8km) 466 finishers

29    Sarah Swinhoe        34.14
32    Sue Rust                    34.26
57    Rebecca Bunting        35.41
95    Bridgit Napleton        36.50
98    Claire Morrissey        36.59
120    Cathy Jeremiah        37.43
156    Karen Levene            38.58
157    Celine Murray            38.59
169    Eleanor East                39.30
203    Jane Higgins                40.33
241    Caroline Boyle            41.50
244    Caroline White             42.00
246    Tamella Platt                42.07
250    Jo Irwin                        42.14
274    Ruth Miller                    43.08
278    Victoria Pound               43.20
309    Louise Pointon                44.49
317    Edyta Szot                    45.16
415    Alison Harrow              52.44

Senior Men (15km), 986 finishers
26    Tom Aldred                54.10
151    Steve Monaghan        59.52
154    George Stewart           59.57
172    Dan McKeown            60.31
199    Andrew Brooker        61.16
242    Dave Hellard            62.41
281    Paul Mercer                64.13
284    Mark Anderson        64.16
287    John Driscoll            64.18
301    John Flahive            64.35
319   Chris Hartley            64.59
327    Phil Duggan            65.18
402    Richard McCaulay    66.58
411    Dom Jackson            67.14
414    Andy Welshman        67.16
464    Rhodri Gabe            68.19
496    Gavin Evans            69.14
507    Sergio Di Noto        69.39
530    Andrew Dunderdale 70:04
554  Joseph Mckeown 70:51
597  (not) Anthony Hall 72:00
614  Philip Bentley 72:23
620     William Whitaker 72:33                           
621     Patrick Waldron 72:34    
624     (not) Tony Killilea    72:40
681    Brian Boyle        74.23
766    Chip Grim            77.39
784    Jacob Howe        78.23
785    Leo Pemberton    78.23
801    Andrew Sulston    78.59
851    Tim Sander         85.11
870  Ollie Pound  82:36
906    Ray Yau                85.47
978    Bob Gould            99.28