English National Cross Country Championships, Shropshire (Sat. 14th Sept.)
When Capability Brown designed Weston Park in the 18th Century I don't suppose that he imagined that it might one day host a national cross country championships (the sport wouldn't even be invented until some one hundred years later), if he had he might have thrown in some proper hills, but although the gradients were not steep there were plenty of strength sapping inclines and the Park looked stunning in the sunshine, reports Clem Dixon. This event had been rescheduled from February, the cancellation having been caused by waterlogged car parks, had it gone ahead as originally planned we would have had some proper cross country weather, and some mud. What should have been the climax to the season felt more like a gentle introduction to the new one with numbers well down on where they would usually be. Nevertheless a healthy Cambridge contingent made the trip and there were many fine performances, Holly Dixon's second place in the senior women's race being the foremost.
Senior Women: Holly Dixon was our only representative here but she is in great form at the moment and didn't disappoint. After the first lap of two she was on the shoulder of Niamh Brown of AFD, the two having opened up a large lead over the chasing pack. By the finish Niamh had pulled away to take the win but Holly ran through well to take the silver medal with the chasers still nowhere in sight.
Senior Men: There were eight Cambridge Harriers running with Bobby Babaker leading the six to score team to 13th place, easily our highest ever position, albeit in a thinner field. (69 Bobby Babaker 42:37; 158 James MacDonald 47:09; 311 Peter St Amour 54:40; 362 Robert Barns 57:42; 368 Steve Cummins 58:00; 419 Jon Wilson 61:33; 461 Foyez Ahmed 64:32; 482 Clem Dixon 68:41).
A trip to the Nationals when it is outside London is something that should be on every runner's bucket list so it was good to see that six of our eight senior men were all doing it for the first time and as always there was more than just the racing to enjoy. I had been warned that Telford is a soulless place but with all ales priced at £1.99 a pint in the Wetherspoons it isn't all bad, and next morning there was time to visit the iconic Iron Bridge before heading home.
Boys: There was a cracking turnout from the Under 13s, seven runners in total with the first four (Alex van den Berg-Hows, Ayotunde Dauda, Austin Richards and Monty Brown) all finishing within a few seconds of each other to take 15th team. Also running were Joseph Lewis, Raif Mendjeli and Oto Weir. Age categories here were based on ages for the previous season not the new one and many of this cohort will be moving up to the Under 15s where they will also be a force to be reckoned with. We were thinner on the ground in the other age groups: Daniel Whitehouse was 168th in the Under 15s; in the Under 17s Olly Buck had a great run for 34th with Thomas Everson 159th.
Girls: Coming off the back of a long track season with little time to prepare for the rigours of cross-country, the junior girls nevertheless produced a series of high quality individual and team performances, reports Steve Cummins. Amelia Lawrence (U17W) placed an excellent 22nd, clearly benefiting from the mileage she has been putting in to win her age group at the recent Big Half.
The U15G team was out in force, Delilah Lester (64th) taking club honours just three seconds ahead of Meredith Cummins (65th), with Celia Yeatman (100th), Celia Allen (139th) and Ingrid Lake-Smith (169th) helping to propel the team to 11th place overall, two places ahead of rivals Blackheath & Bromley.
Sophia-Rose Bonnar, our sole representative in the U13G, finished strongly in 72nd place in by far the largest field of all the junior girls events. Sophia-Rose will be a very welcome addition to the U15G team as she moves up an age-group this year, giving us the strongest and deepest squad in many years - a top three team finish in the Kent XC League certainly looks possible. Mark Newell has done a great job with this crop of juniors - he should be very proud of their efforts this year. (Full results here).
Kent County U13 Track & Field Championships, Gillingham (14th/15th Sept.)
The club's U13 girls had an excellent championships at the weekend, writes Debbie Cook. Miya Cook had a good start to the day, winning the 70m hurdles with a new PB and club record of 11.75s. She followed up in the afternoon coming 2nd in shot (9.43m) and then won the javelin with another PB and club record of 32.94m.
Chloe Lindsey was thrilled with her performances, which included personal bests in the discus of 17.69m, where she won silver, and in the javelin with 18.80m.
In the 1200m, Seren Yeatman took silver (4:06.15s), Esther Yeatman bronze with a huge PB of 4:11.43s and Lizzie Sanders in 4th (4:13.75s).
Kent County Masters Track & Field Championships, Gillingham (14th/15th Sept.)
The club's masters athletes had a successful weekend at Medway Park in Gillingham. Chris Loudon produced a great performance to gain a CBP in the M35 800m - 1:59.38 winning by over 8 seconds.
Natalie Mann (W40) secured three gold (SP - 7.94m (CR), HT - 32.84m (CR) and DT) and a silver in the javelin. Peter Wishart (M60) took gold in the shot - 10.54m and silver in the discus and hammer.
Paris Hunt (M60) had a great weekend winning five medals - two gold (100m & JT), one silver (400m) and two bronze (DT & HT with PB of 27.02m). His finest effort was winning the 100m against a quality field winning by 0.01 sec from the formidable Mark Woods (Paddock Wood) in 13.79s.
In the 2000 metre race walk it was gold for Stephanie Dann (W35) with a 25 second PB of 13:07.38 and Mark Ashby (M60) in a season's best 11:36.00. Mark has now decided to hang up his racing shoes after 50 years of involvement in athletics, latterly as a race walker.
Tim Carter came away with four M70 golds; 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump with a CBP of 3.77m.
Rose Baker won two golds - W60 800m - 3:08.85 - SB her best time for 5 years and also 5000m with an excellent time of 21:48.84 (SB). (Full results here).
Dartford Half Marathon (Sun. 15th Sept.)
The Dartford Half is traditionally held in February, but was moved to September this year due to road networking issues. Stephen Hodges was the clubs first finisher in 11th position in 1:19:52, taking third M40. Julie Backley finished with 1:35:50, second W50. Others finishing were Luke Ford (1:36:22), Russell Buchanan (1:36:40) and Steve Brown (2:05:44).
Comentarios