Welcome come-backs and race debut at Wilian

In this week’s race report, we have exciting results from Wilian, where numerous Heathsiders ran in the Sunday cross country league and there was both an impressive debut run by Phoebe Crockford and a welcome return to cross-country from Charles Hardy and Tim Marshall.  We also have results from the Velopark 10 mile race and belated results from the Inter-counties cross-country championships.

Sunday League Cross-country, Wilian, 18th December 2016

Highlight of the week was the last cross-country of 2016 (ahh!), held in Wilian in North Hertfordshire, venue of the 3rd fixture of Sunday League Cross Country.  The scheduling – the morning after the night before at the club’s annual Christmas party – caused a major headache for Captain Laura.  However, Laura’s tactics to encourage people to come worked miraculously, as a great turn-out of twenty three smiling Heathsiders (see photo) made it to Wilian.  Many went to great extremes to come, braving the cold, damp depressing fog, after minimal sleep, whilst many party goers were either returning home or moving onto the after-the after-party.

The course itself – 8km with men and women running together – was truly out in the country, involving 2 laps around a ploughed field and muddy tracks.  It also included a long section on hard road, so that neither spikes nor ordinary running shoes were ideal.  The narrow course and crowding meant that overtaking was extremely difficult, at least, for the first lap.  There was also a hill and a few horses to keep runners entertained as they ran around.

Jessica Vinluan led the women’s A team, running impressively, despite injury, to finish 26th in 37:22, followed soon by Phoebe Crockford (33rd,), Emilia Vynnycky (34th), Katerina Kozlova (38th) and Nicola McBride (53rd).  Phoebe’s run was particularly memorable, as it was her debut run in the seniors’ event and it was especially touching to witness her proud dad Pete roaring her on to the finish.  With such fatherly support, the two highly youthful Heathsiders immediately behind Phoebe had no chance of catching up…  Yvette Ralston (56th), Kim Butler (71st) and Valeria Rodriguez (78th) ran well to make up the B team, with Laura finishing 105th.

Richard Macaulay ran stunningly to finish 1st Heathsider for the men and 5th overall in 27:44, followed by Charles Hardy who finished 9th in 28:17, and Joe McKeown (56th).  Charles’ return to cross-country running has already prompted much animated discussion in Heathside’s cross-country circles on Facebook and we look forward to seeing more fantastic performances from him in 2017.  The A team was then completed by Jonathan Litchfield (57th), Pete Crockford (86th), John Williams (119th), Jakub Kozel (126th) and Tim Marshall (140th), who also made a welcome come-back to cross-country.  The B team was led by Nick de Sausmarez (157th), followed by Bas Vlaming (179th), Nilesh Goswami (182nd), Alex Macaulay (190th) and Paul Silverman (210th).  Adrian Essex also made a welcome appearance at the Sunday league to round off the men’s runs, finishing 215th.

Overall, after 3 races, we end 2016 with two races to go with Heathside as 7th team overall, out of 19 teams.  In true Heathside tradition, the women’s teams are doing very well, with both the A and B teams in 2nd position and the vets team in 4th place.  The men’s team, is also performing well under stiff competition, with the A, B and vets teams in 7th, 8th and 7th positions respectively.

We close this final cross-country report of the year with some inspirational words from Captain Laura: “…huge thanks to EVERYONE who ran, because every score counted this time.  Special thanks to the party survivors who might have felt it in both the legs and head. I did. Lots to look forward to including a return from Scotland from Rachel for a guest appearance.  With two dirty double weekends ahead please get ready for some Sunday action in Watford (15 Jan) and Royston (12 Feb).”  We also thank ODL, Barbara, Richard and Laura for their efforts in collecting the results at the end of each of the races, without which none of the results would have made it to the reports.

Inter-Counties Championships

There are some belated results from Middlesex in the Inter-Counties Championships in Oxford last Saurday, where two of Heathsides athletes represented Middlesex.  Jem O’Flaherty came 42nd out of 98 finishers and was the third home from Middlesex in a time of 17:05. Twenty seconds behind him was Liam Garrett in 57th place (17:25). Their achievement is all the more impressive and bodes well for the future, given that both are in their first year in the under-17 year old category. 

Velopark 10 miles

Prize for the most mentally-taxing run of the week goes to Joe Garrood, who ran circles (in all senses of the word) round everyone else, by taking part in the 10 mile race in the Lee Valley VeloPark, the latest event in the series put on by Run Through.  He pulled off an impressive new PB of 01:02:21, taking off 5 mins from his previous best, and was justifiably delighted to also win the event, achieving his first ever win.  He comments “Not a race for the traditionalists - with its 1 mile closed loop (meaning laps aplenty) - but a decent price and a variety of distance options: 1 mile; 5K; 10K; 10 mile; and half marathon.”

Parkuns

Many Heathsiders ran in parkruns this week-end.  Congratulations are due to Gabi Johnson, who ran her 50th parkrun.  This week’s first place finishers are: Pete Northall (Finsbury Park, 17:29), Kelly Thorneycroft (Hackney Marshes, 18:18), Ursula Wilson (Orange Park, 22:37).  There is a three-way tie for most exotic parkrun of the week, shared between Peter Ward, who ran in Franschhoek in South Africa, Cathy Jeremiah in Jells, Australia and Ursula Wilson, who continues to proudly wear the Heathside colours in Orange Park, Australia.

And finally…

It now just remains to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a fantastic 2017, filled with lots of great, injury-free running!

Results

Sunday League Cross-country, Wilian, 18th December 2016

Women

Posn    Name                          Time

26        Jessica Vinluan                       37:39

33        Phoebe Crockford       38:36

34        Emilia Vynnycky                      38:40

38        Katerina Kozlova                     38:47

53        Nicola McBride                        40:05

56        Yvette Ralston            40:15

71        Kim Butler                   41:23

78        Valeria Rodriguez       41:43

105      Laura Boothman                     44:43

Men

Posn    Name                          Time

5          Richard Macaulay       27:44

9          Charles Hardy             28:17

56        Joe McKeown             31:04

57        Jonathan Litchfield      31:08

86        Pete Crockford                        32:34

119      John Williams              34:13

126      Jakub Kozel                34:46

140      Tim Marshall               35:32

157      Nick De Sausmarez    36:33

179      Bas Vlaming                38:22

182      Nilesh Goswami                      38:40

190      Alex Macaulay            39:14

210      Paul Silverman                        40:51

215      Adrian Essex               41:18

Inter-Counties Championships, Oxford, 10th December 2016

Posn    Name                          Time

42 Jem O’Flaherty                  17:05

57 Liam Garrett                       17:25

Lee Valley Velopark 10 miles, 17th December 2016

Posn    Name              Time

1 Joe Garrood             1:02:21

Parkruns

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2016-12-17