Tom does the double
It was a week for the men: once again, Tom Aldred was the best of our 77 runners who raced at the weekend, coming second at the North London Cross Country championships in Ruislip on Saturday despite taking a wrong turn (something I can so relate-to) and then repeating the feat at the Sunday League on Sunday, with another second place.
But two others came close: The high-stepping Dan Madams cracked the 2:40 mark by 29 seconds at the Florence Marathon – a big PB by nearly four minutes at the age of 40. And Roger Braybrooks ran a near-PB 76:12 in the City of Norwich Half.
From our women there were also several solid performances. Good to see Sue Rust working her way back to form, as the first Heathside woman at the North London championships (11th overall). At the Sunday League, the steadily improving Kathy Jeremiah was our first woman (sixth overall). She was also our third woman in Ruislip the previous day (17th overall).
North London Cross-Country Championships
Here’s Captain Chris’s report: London Heathside's Senior Men came frustratingly close to bringing home a big, shiny shield on Saturday afternoon, only to get bested by H*ghgate for the umpteenth time already this season, only this time by the narrowest of margins. On a crisp, cold Saturday afternoon, a goodly bunch of Heathside Senior Women and Men took part in two excellent races over an undulating and picturesque wooded course at Mad Bess Woods, prepared courtesy of Hillingdon AC. Starting with the women's race (6km), Sue Rust continued her rehabilitation from an achilles injury with a solid run, finishing 11th overall. The women's team (four to score) was completed by good runs from Bridgit Napleton (16th and 6th vet) and Cathy Jeremiah (17th), and a cracking run from Caroline White, who always looks as elegant at the end of a cross-country race as she does as the start (43rd, and 23rd vet). Heathside's women finished third, behind Ealing Southall and Middlesex, and champions (yawn) H*ghgate.
The Senior Men's race (8km) was made a bit tastier than usual by the front 20 or 30 men taking a wrong turn near the start of the race before realising their error and crashing into the rest of the field as they retraced their steps. David Hellard found himself at the front of a race for the second time this year (the last being the VLM), and took the encouragement to have one of his best runs of the season. Following the navigational error, Tom Aldred worked his way quickly back up the field to secure a fantastic 2nd place finish. With eight to score for the Men's team Heathside's excellent performance was secured by Matt Convery, Ed Samuel, Dan McKeown, Chris Norris, debutant Tim France (nice one, Tim. See you at the Met League on 21st December, yeah?), David Hellard and Andrew Brooker.
So, imagine what it is like for a team manager, if you will; filling in endless X/C entry forms, sending out e-mails, fiddling with running numbers, club flags, accepting apologies for no-shows, and finishing ever further back down the field with every race. Yet despite all this, dreaming that one day they might get that photo taken with a big shiny trophy, something to wave around at the Xmas party, something to proudly fight over with Tom on the Tube on the way home. Well, on Saturday, it didn't happen. Heathside's Senior Men came second. Second! By a measly 4 points. Which means that if George Stewart had turned up, or Rob O'Grady, or Martin Potter, or (insert your name here Mike Stocks, Steve Monaghan, Patrick Burke, etc., etc.) we would (in all probability) have WON. But we didn't win. We came second. By 4 points. To whom? Yes, rub a little salt into the wound: to H*ghgate. I quit!
OK, I don't quit. Instead, I offer my congratulations to a fantastic effort from those who came along and ran. Seriously, we had H*ghgate worried there whilst they were waiting for their 8th finisher to come in. By way of a consolation, Heathside's B-team won the B-team race. Take a bow John Flahive, Howard Gold, Phil Wright et al. Despite the agonising near miss, it was a great afternoon's racing on a good course. Huge thanks to all who made the trip, and to Russell for his handy tarpaulin - great for stashing bags on and getting ready before racing.
Sunday League Cross-Country
No report from any of our 30 participants or spectators but there were some impressive results. Aside from Tom’s second place (out of 258 male finishers) in a time of 27:26, Brent Atkins came sixth (28:15), Martin Potter 14th (29:14), followed by Dan McKeown in 20th place (29:14). He too raced on Saturday. Then, in a sprint finish for 32nd and 33rd place, Philip Duggan (30:33) just pipped Howard Gold (30:44). A bit behind them was Captain Chris Hartley, another who raced both days. He arrived in a respectable 42nd position (31:17).
Kathy was our first woman, in sixth place (out of 151 female finishers), in a time of 34:32. Behind her was Jas Bolla, who is in fine form. She finished in 10th place in a time of 35:14. Third came Barbara Tomaszczyk (44th overall) in a time of 39:13.
It was also good to see Pete Webster back in action in what will be his last cross-country before moving to the coast (but hopefully he and Karen will visit us now and then).
Florence Marathon
Dan Madams’s 2:39:31 (and 40th place) was a plan well-laid and perfectly executed, but for three of our men there was the heartbreak of just missing the mark. Jonathan Hopkin was exactly one minute shy of the three hour mark, in a PB. Rob Shulman was a bit off his usual doggedly consistent pace (over-training?) in 3:02:53 and not far behind, in a PB of 3:03:16 was Matt Fassnidge. Next time, sub-3 Matt! I hear Simon Clarkson also completed the race, but I couldn’t find his result.
City of Norwich Half
Roger Braybrooks is turning into a real half-marathon specialist. Earlier this year, the 44-year-old ran a PB of 75:21 in Blackpool. He came close to matching that in Norwich on Sunday, with a time of 76:12, to give him seventh place – 3 minutes and 42 seconds faster than last year’s time on the same race.
Three Molehills 2013,
A trio of Heathside women took part in a rugged off-road event in Surrey on Sunday, with Rebecca Bunting’s team, Racing Snakes, coming second out of 70 teams, just 15 seconds behind the winners. Rebecca ran the 6.5 mile hilly leg in 41 minutes. The other members of her team weren’t Heathsiders. The day before she won the Oak Hill parkrun. Claire Sliwerki and Laura Boothman completed the individual event (having done a Parkrun the previous day). Here’s Laura’s report:
While all the cross countries were in full swing, there are some Heathsiders who are at their happiest when there's a river crossing, fallen tree, and an ascent of 260 steps up Box Hill in the particular bit of country they have to cross. Mud just isn't enough (though there was plenty of that too). Claire, Laura and Rebecca were all in fine form. This fantastically scenic 14.5 miler is run in three stages, each including a 'mole'hill, from Denbies vineyard either as a team of three or as an individual. Claire came home in a confident 2:29:45, Laura in all out pursuit at 2:31:46 in the individual option, quicker than the aimed for 3 hours and not in last place as predicted! Rebecca tackled the 2nd leg for her team in the relay option, completed in 1.41.03, bringing them in 2nd team overall.
Parkruns
The best of our 16 runners who took park in 10 Parkruns on Saturday was Rebecca Bunting’s first place in Oak Hill in a time of 19:15. She was also third overall out of 75. Also impressive was Andy Welshman’s sixth place (out of 168) in 17:16 in Lincoln and Alex Weatherill’s seventh place (out of 69) in 17:49 in Hackney Marshes.
Results
North of London Cross Country Championships, Ruislip, Saturday November 23
Senior Women (81 finishers)
11th Sue Rust 23.40
16th Bridgit Napleton 24.20 (6th vet)
17th Cathy Jeremiah 24.21
43rd Caroline White 27.00 (23rd vet)
46th Charlotte McCrossin 27.20
49th Victoria Pound 27.32
50th Jo Irwin 27.36 (28th vet)
55th Caroline Boyle 28.06
65th Gabi Johnson 29.48 (38th vet)
76th Alison Harrow 32.20 (47th vet)
Senior Men (130 finishers)
2nd Tom Aldred 25.21
11th Matt Convery 27.35
13th Ed Samuel 27.49
15th Dan McKeown 27.51
18th Chris Norris 28.09
19th Tim France 28.21
22nd David Hellard 28.34
26th Andrew Brooker 28.42
35th John Flahive 29.11 (7th vet)
36th Howard Gold 29.13 (8th vet)
38th Phil Wright 29.27
47th Chris Hartley 29.50 (10th vet)
52nd Phil Bentley 30.16
69th Joe McKeown 31.39
72nd R. Gabe 31.59
79th Phil McCrossin 32.40 (25th vet)
83rd Nick de Sausmarez 32.52
101st Carl Heap 34.14 (39th vet)
108th Oliver Pound 36.03
117th Russell Weston 37.41(51st vet)
126th Bob Gould 41.03 (58th vet)
Sunday League Cross-Country, Grovelands Park, Sunday November 24
| 2 | Tom | Aldred | SM | 27:26 |
| 6 | Brent | Atkins | SM | 28:15 |
| 14 | Martin | Potter | M40 | 29:14 |
| 20 | Dan | McKeown | SM | 29:38 |
| 32 | Philip | Duggan | M40 | 30:33 |
| 33 | Howard | Gold | M40 | 30:34 |
| 42 | Chris | Hartley | M40 | 31;17 |
| 51 | Paul | Mercer | SM | 31:33 |
| 70 | Andrew | Dunderdale | SM | 32:19 |
| 85 | Simon | Hazel | M40 | 33:13 |
| 87 | Mark | George | SM | 33:17 |
| 109 | Brian | Boyle | SM | 34:47 |
| 118 | Marco | Maserati | M50 | 35:12 |
| 148 | Daniel | Alcantarilla | M40 | 36:35 |
| 154 | Ray | Yau | M40 | 36:58 |
| 168 | Ollie | Pound | SM | 37:51 |
| 172 | Tim | Sander | M40 | 38:04 |
| 181 | Robert | Bowler | M50 | 38:30 |
| 186 | Jasper | Lycke | M40 | 38:59 |
| 192 | Ken | Townson | M40 | 39:25 |
| 235 | Pete | Webster | M60 | 44:20 |
| 239 | Steve | Woolf | M60 | 45:15 |
Women:
| 6 | Kathy | Jeremiah | SW | 34:32 |
| 10 | Jas | Bolla | W35 | 35:14 |
| 44 | Barbara | T’maszczyk | W45 | 39:13 |
| 45 | Victoria | Pound | SW | 39:16 |
| 49 | Edyta | Szot | SW | 39:58 |
| 87 | Margherita | Maserati | W45 | 44:00 |
| 106 | Louise | Cripps | W55 | 46:14 |
Florence Marathon, Sunday November 24
40 2:39:31 Dan Madams PB
387 3:01:00 Jonathan Hopkin PB
413 3:02:53 Robert Shulman
432 3:03:16 Matt Fassnidge PB
Simon Clarkson also ran (could not find result).
City of Norwich Half Marathon, Sunday November 247 76:12 Roger Braybrooks
Three Molehills, 14.5 mile, Surrey, Sunday November 24th
Team Race (70 teams)
2nd “Racing Snakes (Rebecca Bunting’s team) – 1:41:03
Individual Race (149 finishers)
141st Claire Sliwerski – 2:29:45
144th Laura Boothman – 2:31:46
Parkruns, Saturday November 23
|
Ally Pally parkrun ( 67 finishers). |
| 5 William WAGSTAFF 00:21:24 |
| 44 Alice PARISH 00:27:41 |
| 46 Lyn EVANS 00:28:29 |
| Hackney Marshes parkrun ( 69 finishers). |
| 7 Alex WEATHERILL 00:17:49 |
| Hampstead Heath parkrun ( 178 finisher). |
| 3 John DRISCOLL 00:19:06 |
| 100 Rebecca SWEET 00:26:56 |
| 122 Laura BOOTHMAN 00:29:22 |
| Highbury Fields parkrun ( 117 finishers) |
| 6 Dominic JACKSON 00:19:05 |
| 49 Ben CLARKE-JANSSEN 00:23:25 |
| Lincoln parkrun, event (168 finishers) |
| 6 Andrew WELSHMAN 00:17:46 |
| Mile End parkrun (113 finishers) |
| 50 Brian BOYLE 00:22:41 |
| 58 Luka MELON 00:23:33 |
| Oak Hill parkrun (75 finishers) |
| 3 Rebecca BUNTING 00:19:15 (first woman) |
| Southwark parkrun (34 finishers) |
| 7 Leo PEMBERTON 00:20:40 |
| 11 Elspeth STORRAR 00:21:36 |
| Wormwood Scrubs parkrun (43 finishers) |
| 4 Asa CUSACK 00:20:09 |
Ally Pally parkrun (67 finishers).