Perivale 5 and Sunday League

Perivale picture credit: Jean King, Ealing Southall & Middlesex

Perivale 5 report (with thanks to Gavin Evans)
“The final Heathside championships road race of the year ended in a sprint for the line, for the men and for the women – on a perfect day for racing (crisp, but not too cold and only a mild breeze)" reports Gavin. 

Pride of place (and first place in the ladies race) went to Leigh James, who, despite some humble mumbles about post-marathon form, was able to fend off Cathy J in a thrilling finish. Cathy came from third to take second just behind Leigh with a tremendous late burst and our three-to-score ladies team looks to have taken first place as well, thanks to Bridgit, who also scored the VW45 prize. 

Leigh: "I didn’t know it was Cathy chasing me down at the time. Had it been 10 metres longer, she might well have won it."

Cathy: "Yes we did shake hands after - we even gave her a lift home!"  

In the men's race Gavin saves some special praise for Mark Anderson, who progressed serenely through the field to finish as first Heathsider: "He eased ahead of Jonathan Hopkin, then me, then Sergio and finally outsprinted Julian, taking the tighter bend to close the show in 28:54 (11th place). Three seconds and two places behind him came Julian who just pipped Sergio on the line."

Other prizes were second V50 (Gavin) and third WVW55 (Caroline White). A big well done to both!

In further photo-finish news, we have the results of the Rob Jackson road race championships (courtesy of Gabi)

The fight for top of the men's table was won by a mere two points when Gavin came in fourth Heathside man at the Perivale 5. Gavin finished the season on 169 points, overhauling long-time leader Rob Bowler (167 points) with Dom Jackson finishing third (149 points). A huge well done to Rob in particular for finishing no fewer than 11 club champs races this year, with Watford HM the only race he didn't complete. 
 
For the women, only two finished six races in the table this year - Cathy  and Caroline White. On the podium we have Cathy (who led from gun to tape with maximum points in her first four races), Bridgit and Caroline W.
 
We look forward to seeing a large Heathside turnout at the Fred Hughes 10 in January 2015, swiftly followed by the Watford Half marathon in February.

Spirit of the Costa Concordia at the Sunday League

A clash with the Perivale 5 resulted in our lowest Sunday League turnout of the season yet (reports Sunday League captain Gavin Parish from the finish line of the Perivale 5) although all is not lost thanks to the plucky band of heroes who did show on the day for this muddy woodland romp. As results keeper and reporter on the ground, Barbara summed things up as, ‘A demanding course. The light drizzle turned into a deluge in the latter parts of the race, before clearing to sunshine.’ Laura added, ‘I’m STILL muddy and I love it.’

A full ladies’ A team was out in force, led home once again by Rachel (who also led the Heathside men home, for that matter, as first man home Nick was quick to point out) in a very respectable 3rd place despite racing in the Surrey League the day before. The club fielded half a men’s A team, which is reflected in the results, but it would have been far worse with no men at all, so huge thanks to those of you who did participate (and I promise I’ll be there for the next two!)

A summary of our team standings following three races of five:

• Men’s A team were 15th, which means we drop to just outside the top ten overall, in 11th place compared with 6th at this time last year (though Trent Park is still to come!*)

• Women’s A team were 12th, dropping from 5th place overall to 7th, so are holding in there better than the men, and only one place lower than last year. Hats off to Rachel Newstead, who is top of the board in the Senior Women’s category after three races.

• In the absence of anyone to represent the Women’s B team, we appear to have dropped off the B team league altogether! I’m hoping that’s an admin error and we’ll be back on there, hanging in once again after the next race.

• Our men’s vets team were 14th and maintain their 11th place overall, while the women's vets were 14th but are inside the top ten in 9th overall.

• The combined men and women’s team was also 9th.

Remember there are 21 clubs taking part in the league, so our performance is really good overall in the face of wider competition, particularly from clubs such as Trent Park and Harpenden, who throw a lot of people at these fixtures in the same way we do for the Met League.

Other races

• There was bronzed glory for Jane Higgins in the Endurance Life Coastal Trail in Dorset, where she finished third lady. "It was a gorgeous run along the coastal path, lots of hills but bright sunshine too. Definitely recommend it," beams Jane.

• Matt Collins and Andrew Dunderdale ran excellent times at the Chasers' 10k race in Regent's Park, with Matt's sub-37 particularly worthy of note.

• Alice L was first Heathsider home of four at the Olympic Park 10k. Don't know if she did a 'Mobot' celebration, but I imagine she probably didn't.

• Check out this week's parkrun results. Spoiler alert: first places for Tony K and Tom Fancett.

This week's results

Perivale 5

11 Mark Anderson 28:54
13 Julian Ferraro 28:57
14 Sergio Di Noto 28:57
21 Gavin Evans 29:33
28 Jonathan Hopkin 30:14
30 Rob Shulman 30:32
36 Tim Marshall 30:54
40 Leigh James 31:13
41 Catherine Jeremiah 31:14
47 Dominic Jackson 31:25
51 Anthony Wilkinson 31:38
52 Pete Crockford 31:51
67 Will Whitaker 32:54
73 Mark George 33:30
74 Gavin Parish 33:38
75 Chris Hewertson 33:39
77 Simon Hazel 33:52
82 Anthony Chaimowitz 34:22
85 Bridgit Napleton 34:35
104 Robert Bowler 35:12
109 Andrew Hudson 35:32
124 Jo Irwin 36:44
128 Caroline White 36:55
130 Jesper Lycke 37:06
153 Tammela Platt 38:53
197 Alice Parish 41:33
206 Sandra Buckton 42:34

Sunday League XC Race #3, Cassiobury Park, Watford, 7/12/14 (approx. 5.8 miles)

(gender position in brackets)
61. Rachel Newstead 40m 19s (3rd)
137. Nick De Suasmarez 46m 29s (119th)
146. Marco Maserati 47m 11s (127th) 
177. Paul Silverman 49m 12s (144th) 
239. Ken Townson 53m 06s (176th) 
250. Sarah Illingworth 53m 46s (70th) 
269. Laura Boothman 57m 35s (85th) 
276. Lyn Evans 60m 19s (91st) 
282. Louise Cripps 61m 40s (94th) 
310 finishers (194 men, 116 women)

Endurance Life Coastal Trail 10k, Dorset

TBC Jane Higgins 1:00:27 (3rd lady) 

QEOP Winter 10K Series, London Olympic Park

62 Alice Lighton 45:32
142 Tom Hosking 49:59
174 Alison Harrow 52:26
277 Victoria Phillips 58:43

The Chasers Regents Park 10k Winter Series Race 3
9 Matt Collins 36:39
27 Andrew Dunderdale 38:53