CLUBNEWS
26th FEBRUARY, 2008
23rd February
– English National Cross-Country Championships,
THE INADEQUACY, THE
EFFORT, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTACY
This was a day, as the
headline suggests, of mixed feelings.
There was much to compliment
To take the title comments in order, then:-
THE INADEQUACY
Alton Towers
theoretically had everything going for it to make it a great ‘National’ venue –
more than adequate car parking, experience of handling big events, setting in
glorious hilly country, and terrain that even the most hardened advocate of ‘traditional’
rather than ‘flat parkland’ courses couldn’t complain about. Unfortunately this was not reflected in the
course laid out, which in The Scribe’s opinion simply wasn’t adequate to handle
the event properly. Far too much of it was
not only narrow, but needlessly narrow – there was room to make it wider and
cut out some of the bottlenecks. The
start was not only downhill (which has greater possibility of accidents) but
narrowed too quickly, and had a hump at the crucial narrowing point which had potential
for a pile-up. Several of the bends were
extremely tight, and athletes were seen ‘marking time.’ Above all, the extremely short, steep hill,
which some compared to Hill 60 at Roundhay, was not only incredibly constricted
(only about four metres wide at most) but was rutted and stepped, so that it
was difficult (especially with people in front of you) to keep running on
it. Most important, every one of the
courses was short; The Scribe is aware of the fact that Senior winner Tom
Humphries is good, but if he can actually run an advertised 12 kilometres in
three seconds over 32 minutes the Old ***t is prepared to expose his anatomy in
any public place the E.C.C.A. cares to name!
(As it equates to 3.58 miling he’s on a good
thing!) The venue had been ‘tested’ by
holding a Midland Championship on it, but that’s not necessarily a successful
guide to staging the bigger event. All
in all it was not a ‘National’ venue to crow about.
THE EFFORT
This was put in by
those Club teams and members who didn’t come close to the medal positions, or
in some cases the front of the field – but for whom the event exists, as the
democracy of all abilities together is a big part of the appeal of the
‘National.’ The Club had teams out in
six of the age-groups and individuals in three others. There were no Under-20 Women, but Sophie Waterhouse
was a soloist in the simultaneously-run Under-17 event,
and ran a pleasing 58th in a big and powerful field to sustain her
season’s improvement. The two Under-13 races saw three finishers in each: among the Boys Luke Murray (66)
coped well with his first really big-field event, Harry Foster (236) made a promising debut and Quentin Scobie (331) showed plenty of determination until the
hill got to him. The best of the Girls was Grace Coburn, whose 192nd represents at least as
good a run as her Roundhay effort, while India Wilson
(300) and Holly Wilton (364) tackled the testing conditions bravely.
20th looks
a shade disappointing for the Under-15
Girls’ team, but once again
it needs to be borne in mind that the whole scoring quartet is a year young,
and at that age it counts. There weren’t
any bad runs among the four, though Emily Robinson
(184) might have hoped to be a bit closer to the ‘front pair’ on a good day; Johanna Wilton led home in 95th place with her usual solid effort on a
course which suited her strength, Caitlin Regan
(123) ran up to her usual form against Joanne, and Chloe Harley (199) continued what is for her (like Salty,
perhaps) strengthening medicine for 800 runners.
With both Susan Partridge and Kirsteen Young
opting to take in the Scottish Championships instead, the Senior Women were rather weakened, but six faced the
starter – including a new face and a surprise – and all went well
considering. The surprise was Alex Gostling, who had been planning to rest an injury but decided “she wanted to be part of it” and turned
out; she creaked a bit, but was pleased enough with 54th. Celia de Maria
was also carrying numerous aches and pains, and reckoned 121st
wasn’t all that bad under the circumstances, while the best run of the day
against form came from Ruth
Wilcox, who just made the
first 200 (196 in fact) and looked to be enjoying herself purposefully. The new face was Sophie Lovell, running for the first time since being
recruited (from
No wonders were
expected from the Under-17 Lads, but they’ve been putting in workmanlike
performances all year and 14th of 34 teams was another such. It might have been a bit better if Geoff Belcher hadn’t had so many knock-backs in his
training; fully fit he’d have been expected to hold the place in the mid-20s he
occupied for much of the race, but he ran out of legs in the later stages and
went back to 45th. The other
three counting places consisted of two really sound efforts from Eddie Mason in 94th (beginning to look like the
Eddie of last May again) and Will
Plastow in 110th (looking more and more of an asset to the Club
since his move), backed by what was far and away Danny Davies’ best run of the season in 115th. (Keith Belcher’s
comment was “He’s got his racing head on today!”) It’s hard to say whether Mark Lunn (200) had his only slight off-day of the year
or Lee Allsopp (205) had his best effort; what’s undoubtedly
true is that they wouldn’t have had that many runners behind them a year ago.
The major
disappointment of the day was the Under-20 Men’s
team, which early in the year had been seen as a medal prospect; but having Joe Townsend and Spike Williams
among the spectators knocked the stuffing out of it, and to compound it Nick Hooker had to come out with a bruised foot and James Wilkinson (27) had the sort of race best forgotten,
never looking like getting going from the early stages. Oliver Ziff (73)
as ever put his heart into it, but suffered a mid-race ‘wobble,’ and in spite
of recovering well couldn’t match his Roundhay heroics; however, James Lavin (94) ran a lot better than in the Northern,
and the big bonus was Mike
Salter’s 45th. There could be some interesting 800s and
1500s this summer now ‘Salty’ has clearly added strength to his natural
speed. Outside the count there were two
further bonuses; Alex Davy (121) looked to be back ‘on song’ after injury
problems, and James Dean (112) is beginning to look a different – and
altogether improved – runner.
THE AGONY
There can’t be many
more agonising experiences in cross-country running than losing a medal on the
‘last counter’ rule, as the Under-15
Boys did on Saturday. However well the lads ran – and they all ran
up to or better than form – they’re all going to be kicking themselves for not
finding that one extra place which would have clinched third place. They should take on the positive aspect,
though – fourth team in a ‘National’ is nobody’s failure. There were certainly bonuses for the team rapidly
becoming known as the Oddsock Fusiliers. Mike Wood was
always in the chasing group, though never quite with the front; he dug in to
battle his way to a fine 17th place to lead home the squad –
just! Just, because with what was
definitely the Youngsters’ Run of the Day Elliot Todd
surged through from the mid-thirties in the final half-mile to finish exactly
one stride behind Mike; they were given the same time. Gordon Benson
(73) ran solidly for two-thirds of the race but ran a bit out of legs, and Alex Hart (103) might be a bit disappointed when
comparing his effort to his outstanding run in the West Yorkshire Schools; but
neither can be said to have given any less than 100 per cent, and progress isn’t
always along an even road. Robert Torch (154) and Tom Rollins
(155) also shared the same time, and while a fit Tom might have tipped the
scales the important thing from both the Club’s and Tom’s point of view is that
he’s back in action.
THE ECSTACY (AND THE
WARNING)
The Scribe has it on
reliable authority (which he is checking) that it was 1965 when last a club
took a third consecutive Senior
Men’s title in the
‘National,’ which puts the present squad firmly in its place in Club history;
but he doubts whether any winning team had to work harder for their gongs that
this one did. It was a splendid effort
to pack six men in 52 with the counters all finishing in the space of two
minutes; but it needed it against a club whose team packed between 24th
and 43rd and all finished in the space of 38 seconds! The clash of 2008 between
The day started with
the worst of blows; Dave Webb declared himself unfit (and those who saw him spectating were unanimously agreed that he looked far too
ill to do himself justice), to add to Martin Gostling’s injury absence; on the other hand there was
the possible bonus that Martin
Hilton declared himself fit
to run. It also looked for a moment as
though James Walsh had had a rush of blood to the head, as he led
for the first half-mile; by the end of the first lap he’d cone back to 10th,
which looked worrying. As usual the big
pack was hanging around the 60-100 mark poised to move through, and Adam Grice and Simon Deakin
were further up; but there was an ominously big group of white, green and
yellow vests around and in front of them. Greg Hull and John Lunn were both counting anxiously – and it was
close.
By the end of the
second it could be seen how close. James
was back in his running and had moved up to 8th; Adam was in the
early twenties and looking good (in spite of the haircut!); but ‘Deek’ was
beginning to look a bit rocky. However,
the surge was on from three sources – Chris Birchall
had moved into the forties and was looking strong; Martin H. was behind him and
looking grimly determined to hang on, but above all Darran Bilton was bouncing!
Just out of the count Mike
Burrett and Adam Osborne were running their usual battling efforts, but
Martin Roscoe looked uncharacteristically subdued; only
afterwards was it revealed that he’d missed almost a fortnight’s training with
a bad calf. Doscoe’s
not one for washing his injuries in public!
However, the Notts. Six were also advancing,
their last man was level with Martin, and the margin at different counts varied
between nine and fifteen points!
So the gauntlet was
thrown down on the last lap – and it was picked up! James grafted all the way round to pick up
two more places and finish 6th.
Adam ran the race of his life (the runner-up in the Northern Junior of two
years ago not excluded) to haul through 16th. In spite of losing a couple in the sprint-in
to younger legs Darran’s placing bettered his 42
years by no less than fourteen; what more could have been asked of the Venerable
Bilton? Chris not only held on to 40th
but dragged Simon in his wake, and ‘Deek’ hung on like a good ‘un; but if anybody summed up the day and the spirit it was
Martin Hilton. After a season devastated
by injuries and broken training he dug out his reserves and just about ran
himself into the ground to hold 52nd – and guarantee the win by just
nine points!
Behind the counters
there was excellent support; Mike (64)
and Adam (70) ran on splendidly, but suffered a slight indignity as Doscoe lit
up the fuse after the last hill to move through to 60th (the team
would still have won had he counted.) The
trio combined with Aidan Adams (a sound run in 138th), Arthur Cooke (probably an even better run against form than
Aidan’s in 160th) and Josh Whitehead
(a splendid effort in 183rd) to create a B team which finished a
theoretical 11th (and ahead of Notts.’ ‘second
six’). A third six also finished
honourably (guess which was the only other club to do so –
yes, Notts. A.C.!) consisting of Pete Steel (292 – possibly as good as he’s run this year),
Leon Foster (673), Luke Atkin
(inspired to run by marshalling at Roundhay and in 702nd quite glad
he did), Pete Kidd (771), Simon Hill (838)
and Rob Gatenby (930); while for good measure John Mace (946) made his debut in the event at the age
of 57 and reckoned he’d enjoyed it, and Alistair Davy
became a carpet cleaner for the day (price of a pint for the first Under-17 or
younger to work that one out!)
So three wins on the trot, and it’s a magnificent and seldom-equalled achievement
– but the battle with Notts. bears analysis, and the
result is interesting. Notts. are a team which has no real outstanding stars (with
the possible exception of Billy Farquharson) but very
solid depth (they entered over fifty and finished 21); they’ve been coming
along slowly for a number of years; and they clearly have a strong team spirit
and commitment. (Does that remind you of
anybody?) Moreover, if
A SUCCESSFUL CALEDONIAN
FOOTNOTE
The two missing
members of the Senior Women’s team had a good day at the Scottish Cross-Country Championships at
24th February
–
TWO MEDALS, A RECORD AND
A ROPEY PERFORMANCE
The ten members who
competed at the National Indoor Arena had somewhat mixed fortunes, but as usual
there was something to be cheerful about.
The two medals, both Bronze, came in Shot competitions, and though
neither was a surprise to the observer one of them may well have been to the
competitor! Jacob Gardiner was a somewhat distant third in the Under-15
Boys’ event, presumably finding himself matched against a couple of juvenile
man-mountains; his 11.79 was a very sound effort, though he’s done better this
year. On the other hand Hannah Evenden might have been expected to do well in the
Under-20 Women, but once again the One-Woman Disaster Area managed to make
things difficult for herself by turning her left ankle while skipping,
of all things, the week before. With the
right one supported after last year’s problems and the left one strapped by a physio, she did what anyone might have been expected to do
under the circumstances - set a personal best of 12.32! They didn’t do things like that when The
Scribe was a lad!
The Club record, as
usual, didn’t get a medal to go with it.
Matt Wagner, having already pulverised the Under-15 Lads’
60m Hurdles record once, did it twice more at
It was also a good day
for the Gardiners, because besides Jake’s medal Dan produced a season’s best Long Jump with 6.87, finishing 5th
in a large and strong field – a seriously good multi-eventer’s
effort. However, it wasn’t quite as good
a day for the Mosleys; Jack finished last in his heat in the Under-15 60m, though 7.90 was only a shade
down on his best time, while Tom, who was struggling with incipient flu and
only originally went ot support Jack, decided to have
a go, but after going great guns in the first two rounds and coming within
three-hundredths of a second of his best with 7.10, the bug got the better of
him and he pulled out of the Final. The
other two competitors didn’t get beyond the heats of their event, but while Rachael Speight had a bit of an “after the Lord Mayor’s Show”
day in the Under-17 300 (44.22), Danielle Carr at
least had the comfort of a season’s best of 8.23 to bring home with her.
23/24th
February – British Veterans’ Indoor Championships,
OLD FOLKS’ SUCCESSFUL
DAY (OR TWO) OUT
The four Club members
who braved the trip to
The other title was
taken in the Over-40 category by
ALSO GATHERED IN OF LATE
…
Dave Webb has picked up quite a bit this month – an
international selection, eighth place in the Belgian Cross Cup final on
February 9th, and the stomach bug which was giving Greg Hull the collywobbles about his state of fitness
for the National. The 8th,
rather less than a minute behind the winner, was a highly satisfactory run
which made him third counter for the British team, but he may not have been
over-pleased that on this occasion Steve Vernon, his victim at Roundhay, was
just in front.
The quirks of
University running were amply demonstrated in the Durham Cathedral Relays on February 17th when the event – a
four-leg affair which takes in the precinct – was won by a team describing
itself as the Belgian Silhouette Artists’ Club.
The actual make-up of the team was 2 x Leeds University student Jorge
Thomas and 2 x James Walsh; and not only did this pairing, running alternate
legs, beat the North-Eastern area of the British Milers’ Club by 1½ minutes but James gilded the lily by running
the fastest two legs of the day – 9.36 for his first and 9.35 for his
second! Some distance behind this effort
A degree of confusion
may have been caused at the Wombwell 5k on February
17th when Steve
O’Neill finished 13th
in 28.29 – as Stephen O’Neill had already finished 8th in
27.07! For the uninitiated, the ‘other’
Steve O’Neill is from Darlington Harriers.
At any rate both of them shared the race with a living legend – in 168th
place, in quite a reasonable 39.39 when you’re approaching 70, was Doctor
Ronald Hill.
Jacob Gardiner has been notable by his absence from his usual
multiple activities of late due to injury, but it looks
as though he’s on the bounce back. On
Thursday last he took himself to Tyneside (well, perhaps his dad had a bit to
do with getting him there!) for the Gateshead Open Indoor Meeting, and came home with a couple of good marks to show his return – 1.55 in
the High Jump, just below his best, and 9.8 for 60m Hurdles, which was a
significant PB.
Not everybody in the
Harriers’ section went to the national this weekend. Three of the Tarmac Brigade went to the
Another couple who
tend to take to tarmac rather than mud, Scott Mitchell
and Jake Harman, turned out in the
Surf ye in unlikely
places and ye shall find! The Scribe
tends to take a look at almost everything he can find on the internet on the
fringes of the local area, but the Ennstone 7-Mile Race in
People may recall that before he got
injured Greg Hull was down to represent
“If you have seen my time for the
I was so disappointed, as I felt I was in control and everything was going to
plan up until that point. I had recce'd the course
the day before, saw that it was faster than I expected and was happy. I
reckoned I could do it under 2:45, and that’s what I was on course for before
the wheels came off my race. Even the weather conditions were good, with a low
temperature (humidity high but it always is in HK), making me feel confident of
running a decent time. I've never experienced quite such a bad race day in my
life. Anyway, I hope this explains
things, and apologies for letting down the team, but I shall live to fight
another day.”
Well, everybody has disasters sometime; and
if Sean needs any comfort he’ll no doubt take it from the comment by Darran Bilton (who ran the first leg in
THE NATIONAL ACCORDING
TO LUNCHTIME O’SURF
Since
the turn of the Millennium Brian Hilton has been compiling statistics on the
current Senior Men’s Harriers squad’s performances in the English Championship. For the
amusement and interest of members – to say nothing of the historical record of
this outstandingly successful group – the figures are published as an appendix
at the end of the present Clubnews, with his permission.
|
English National Cross-Country Championships |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
21st Century Team Results/Rankings |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Performances |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
|||||||||
|
Club |
|
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
pos |
pts |
Total |
|
Tipton H |
|
1 |
6 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
3 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
20 |
|
Morpeth H |
|
2 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
2 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
2 |
|
|
16 |
|
Birchfield H |
|
3 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||