Newsletter – January 2000

 NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 00 ISSUE 270
Hants XC League December 4^th from Franny
Luckily the rain held off until after this fixture which meant that the course was dry and fast. John Ruffell got the club interest under way in the under 15’s race.He had a fine run and is clearly one to watch in the next few years.
The senior ladies were hoping to maintain their challenge for team honours. They were led home by Cath who, once again was 2nd vet. Ruth was nursing an injury so made a slower start than usual before working her way through the field.Audra continued her fine run of form to finish only two places behind. She closed the scoring team in 2nd place behind Aldershot who now seem to have replaced Reading Road Runners as the biggest challengers for the title.
Nicky’s great run got her into the top 50 and was good enough to win the club handicap award. Liz was only 10 places behind and took 2nd in the handicap with Audra in 3rd.
The senior mens course was shorter than in the two previous fixtures. 1st counter was Mike who took his 3rd vets. win to consolidate his position at the top of the table. Next was Ian (3rd vet.) then Mark who had a fine run to get the better of Paul who the handicapper felt had an even better run. Chris Try anchored the A team to a superb 4th place on the day to close the gap on Portsmouth in the overall standings. The chance of a top 4 placing is now possible and would be a fantastic acheivment for the club.
There was an improved result from the B team who took 3rd place on the day.Keith had his best run on the country this season . Bob Taylor sealed another crushing victory for the vets. team and I think they look certain to retain their title. Martin was only 20seconds behind and was followed by Simeon who made an impressive debut for the club.
Gavin continued his cross-country dominance over Nick, while Dave ran a strong last lap to catch Geoff in the final yards. I had a fair run to get the better of John Hodge with JT completing the club interest due to Steve clocking his 2nd DNF of the year.

 
 
 
Village Handicap 9^th December from FrannyThe December handicap was a close run race with club junior John Ruffell holding off Audra by only 3 seconds. Next home was Paul C arter who had a similar margin over Steve McNair. Keith Vallis scored the only PB of the night with a 14 second improvement. The first six home all fall under the handicappers axe for the February run…..some by quite large amounts.
Fastest on the night was Mike ahead of the non-scoring Keith, with Mark and Paul taking the minor places. The recalculated tables now show young John leading the handicap league ahead of Mark and Audra with the handicapper leading the chasing pack. The time league is very tight with Mike leading Mark by a point and Paul close behind.However with Mike and P aul having both missed a race and Mark working evening shift for the next run there is a good chance for Keith Clark, Gavin or Nick to steal a medal.
32 runners have participated so far…..it could be a record breaking season.!!!!!

 
Fleet XC 2^nd January from Geoff

• Steve has passed on Standards Scheme details. Franny will administer it.
• Gwyneth is accepting entries for Coombe Gibbet because John Hoare will not be available
• Gwyneth is preparing a welcome pack for new members from Steve’s originals.
• Outstanding subs. Delinquent members being chased by Geoff.
• Maggie has resigned her membership because she does not come down often enough
• Franny and Dave Mills were allocated the Club’s London entries.
• Twinning event to be either the weekends around June 12^th and April 1^st . Will consult members
• Income £240; Expenditure £582; Race Fees outstanding £135; Current Account £186; Reserves £1421
• Next meeting 14^th February

Special thanks to everyone who donated time and effort in making our XC League fixture at Rotten Hill such a great success   
Romsey 5 Sunday 23^rd January from Paul – Club 5 mile championships
As last year, a bright sunny morning greeted runners for this years clubs champs.
On a fast course, with an appalling start, a poor finish, and dodgy mile markers, we had a good set of results.
Mike again led us home in 5th position, 1st vet. , to add the club 5 mile title to the 10 mile and x.c. He has already won this year. After having finished 4th in his last 2 races (county x.c champs and hants league at Overton) he looks in great shape for a high place at the south of England Champs. Ian was our next finisher 11th, two places ahead of Paul, who took the club’s senior men’s title and between them they won the team title (on count back) in the race itself (an extravagant 4 cans of beer!!).
Next two home were Mark and Keith, 18th and 23rd respectively and taking silver and bronze in the clubs champs. With Paul, Dave V, Franny, Martin Crawshaw and Steve Mc. All becoming vets this year these two should have a good battle for top senior next year.
Gavin ran a new p.b to pick up bronze in the vets club champs, finishing 56th. One place behind was Cath, who’s had a disappointing start to the year with illness and injury, only managing 4th position in the ladies competition but has the consolation of taking the club champ title!!
Nick was a little below par, finishing 64th probably due to the extra training he’s putting in for the London marathon.
Eric ran another sterling race to take 3rd v/55, finishing in 92nd position. Hot on his heels was Nicky with a p.b of 1min 20 (watch out Eric!!) And following behind these two was Paul Carter (two races in two weeks Paul?!!).
JT finished 160th in a field of over 450 runners. There was a good turnout from the men for the club champs, 10 but poor from the ladies, 2. Come on ladies , where are you ??!!
And finally, with an entry fee of £5, a field of 450+, the prizes were awful – 4 cans of Fosters between 3 runners for the winning men’s team and 3 pairs of socks for the 1st lady vet. Are we being ripped off and do we want to continue using this race?

Mike Bliss 5th 25:28 (1st vet)
Ian Ford 11th 27:03
Paul Wheeler 13th 27:14
Mark Simcox 18th 27:49
Keith Clark 23rd 28:11
Gavin Duncan 56th 30:13
Cath Wheeler 57th 30:20 (4th lady)
Nick Dalton 64th 30:43
Eric Tilbury 92nd 32:05
Nicky Clark 118th 32:28 (11th lady)
Paul Carter 123rd 33:45
John Thomas 160th 35:10
 
RESULTS
U/13 BOYS
37^th A Harris 13m 28s 43rd S Cross 14m 22s
49^th B Ludford 16m 04s 50 finished
 
27^th L Denny 15m 18s 28 finished
SENIOR LADIES
5^th C Wheeler 17m 24s 32nd N Clark 19m 49s
8^th R Kingsborough 17m 40s 50^th E Sandall-Ball 20m 51s
12^th A Dennison 18m 05s 83^rd A Share 23m 31s
92 finished
SENIOR MEN
4^th M Bliss 30m 47s 115^th S Poulton 37m 07s 19^th I Ford 32m 03s 116^th N Dalton 37m 11s
27th C Try 32m 54s 125th D Henerey 37m 56s
42nd P Wheeler 33m 55s 133^rd E Tilbury 38m 20s
46^th M Simcox 34m 11s 179^th J Hodge 40m 16s
50^th K Clark 34m 23s 194^th S McNair 40m 48s
55th R Taylor 34m 43s 204^th R Francis 41m 47s
87^th G Duncan 36m 06s 223rd J Thomas 44m 34s
97th M Crawshaw 36m 24s
103rd D Mills 36m 45s 233 finished
 
VET MEN SENIOR LADIES
1. Aldershot 5 1. OVERTON 4 1. OVERTON 7
2. Basingstoke 8 2. Southampton RC 12 2. Aldershot 10
3. Winchester 13 3. Portsmouth Jog 18. 3 Reading RR 14
4. OVERTON 18 4. Portsmouth 20
5. Portsmouth 20 5. Hamworthy 21 (Top 3 positions
6. Reading 25 6. Fleet & Crookham 23 only available)
7. Southampton RC 28 7. Havant 25
8. Team Solent 28 8. Reading 31
9. New Forest 35 9. Hardley Runners 32
10. Havant 40 10. Royal Navy 35
* * * * *
 
Hampshire Schools Intermediate Boys XC 22^nd January at Southamton Sports Centre from Geoff 
Foxdown Handicap January 20^th from FrannySadly I missed this race due to being at work but at the after race post mortem in the White Hart my ear was bent with regards to some of the handicaps. TO RECAP: Handicaps are based on your best time in your 3 previous runs over that course. Being injured or not having run for a year does not affect your starting position.
First home on the night was John Ruffell who took his 3rd consecutive victory. He currently tops the table ahead of Audra whom he passed in the closing stages. These two had a hugh margin over another junior Richard Spreadbury. The handicap league is starting to hot up as both John and Audra get punished for their improved form by the handicapper (almost 2 minutes each for the March race), and this could let one of the chasing pack in. Mark Simcox is currently 3rd with Blissy and yours truly not far behind.
Fastest on the night was non-counting Jamie ahead of Mike. Paul ran his slowest time since my records began in 1979 but was still 3rd fastest. Mike tops the time league ahead of Mark and Paul. All three have missed a race so another no show could let in one of the chasers. One of these is Keith who ran his 2nd fastest time for this course as did Nicky,Dave Mills and Audra. John Ruffell was the only person to hit a pb (by 2mins. 2secs.) whilst Gavin and Geoff joined Paul in recording their slowest times ever.

 
Hampshire XC Championships 8^th January from Paul 
Senior men:Mike Bliss 4th 37.24 (1st O/40)
Ian Ford 16th 39.18 (3rd O/40)
Paul Wheeler 39th 42.01
Keith Clark 56th 43.24
Gavin Duncan 82nd 45.53
Nick Dalton 85th 46.18
Erin Tilbury 97th 47.25 (3rd O/55)
Dave Henery 100th 47.41
Geoff Cloke 111th 48.37 (4th O/55)
JT 151st 54.55 (3rd O/60)
 
  
U/15 Boys John Ruffell 19th 15.13   
Fleet XC 30th January from Geoff
I had a good run in the senior 9K race finishing in about 12^th place.
 
 

BIONIC  
 Our winner this month has made excellent progress during the past few months spurred on by her erstwhile coach who she will soon be beating. A best ever position in our XC meeting, followed by a PB in the Romsey 5 gave her a lot to celebrate last month. I am sure you have guessed it our winner is
NICKY CLARK.
The club’s first race of the millennium was the county X.C Champs at Staunton Park, Havant. In ideal conditions and on a course with one big hill and lots of ankle deep mud and cow s***, some members described it as tough and others just think it’s dangerous!
Audra was our only lady competitor and had a fantastic run probably her best ever over the country finishing 5th and 3rd senior lady.
In the men’s race, Mike also had a storming run finishing 4th and proving once again that he is the best veteran in the county by winning the Hampshire title by 1min 40secs. Ian was our next finisher in 19th position and picking up 3rd place in the veterans competition. Paul finished 39th ahead of Keith who ran cautiously to finish 56th. Gavin and Nick were our next two finishers with Gavin finishing 82nd and Nick completing the scoring team which finished 6th in 85th position. Next home was Eric in 97th just losing out on 2nd place in the O/55’s by 1 second!! He was chased hard by Dave Henery (the nutter) who seems to get better with every race and was well pleased to finish 100th and to get the better of Geoff who finished 111th; not one of his better days. JT finished 151st and 3rd O/60 on this course which really doesn’t suit him.
It was good to see one of the youngsters competing with John taking part in the U/15 boys and a fine run he had too finishing 19th. : Audra Dennison 5th 29.24 
Senior ladies
 
 
A good start from John placed him in 21^st position for much of the race but finally losing 3 places in the home straight. Next year he will be in the top year of this 2 year age band.
Result; John Ruffell 24^th
 
 
Our home fixture produced another fabulous set of results and if we can reproduce another in the final fixture at Bournemouth we will be well on course for our best ever overall season.
We got off to a good start in the junior events where in the Under 13 Boys we fielded three lads. Pride of place went to young Aaron Harris who produced a really promising run to take an excellent 37^th place on his debut. Fine support came from Sam Cross and Ben Ludford and we also recorded a finisher in the Under 15 Girls race where Laura Denny had her first outing of the season and finished a creditable 27^th.
Our Ladies team worked their way into a strong position after finishing second to a classy team from Basingstoke. But they finished ahead of their nearest rivals from Aldershot and now hold a three point lead in the race for the Senior Womens League title and need only to finish in the top three to become champions. All this was due to another fine set of results from Cath, Ruth and Audra who crossed the line in 5^th, 8^th and twelfth positions respectively to underline our strength in depth. Cath and Ruth are both in contention for an individual medal being in 3^rd and fourth places in the senior event while Cath cannot be caught for the silver in the Vets category.
But maybe their star of the day was Nicky who easily produced her best result of the season with a very much improved 32^nd place with the group well supported by Liz in 50^th and Alison Share making a promising debut in 83^rd.
It turned out to be another tremendous day for our Senior team. Mike had another cracking run to take fourth place to add to the fourth he picked up in the county championships the previous week and again he comfortably won the Vets race to make in four out of four victories and secure the individual vets title. Ian was also in incredible form to pick up 19^th place and his third place in the vets category ensured that he could not be beaten for second place. A marvellous 1-2 for Mike and Ian. Bob added the icing with another fine run to ensure that the Vets team remained unbeaten over the season and it would take a miracle of mammoth proportions to deny them the title for the third successive year.
Plenty to cheer about for our Seniors as well. Behind Mike and Ian, Chris Try returned to form with a vengeance to produce a superb 27^th place and with excellent backing from Paul and Mark we collected a well deserved fourth place on the day, just 16 points behind Winchester, to consolidate fourth overall two points ahead of City of Portsmouth.
Like Nicky, Keith turned in by far his best of the season to lead the ‘B’ team as he collected a place in the top 50. With Bob, Gavin, Martin and Dave Mills all scoring well the team finished in their highest position of the season with a great third place. Unfortunately the league positions have not been published but I think they certainly figure in the top four or five.
Like all the fixtures this season the club vest was prominent throughout the field and on this occasion also well represented by Simeon, Nick, Dave Henery, Eric, John, Steve, Richard and JT all of whom performed well over a tough course.
Many thanks to everyone who helped over the weekend to make this, our home fixture, so successful. Your efforts were much appreciated by the League officials and will probably secure us another home fixture next season.

John got off to a good start and was leading with about 1Km to go until he literally lost his way on this poorly marshalled course.
Result: John Ruffell 2^nd U15B
I had a good run in the senior 9K race finishing in about 14^th place.
 
MINUTES OF COMMITTEE MEETING 17^th January
 Present – Paul, Cath, Gwyneth, Mark, Geoff
 
 
 
Handicap Time League Positions
 

Handicap League Positions
 
LEAGUE TABLES (AFTER 4 MATCHES)
SENIOR MEN
 
U/15 GIRLS
HAMPSHIRE LEAGUE – ROTTEN HILL OVERTON – 15.01.00 from John Hoare
In previous years only first claim members have been allowed to win prizes in club competitions, including club championships and the handicap leagues during the winter and summer months. However, despite not being eligble for prizes, 2nd claim and the occasional guest runner have been included in the points system for the handicap leagues. This has caused some concern in the past, especially when I have had to allocate a starting position for a new runner near the end of a closley fought handicap competition when one place could decide the title.
Therefore it was agreed at a recent commitee meeting that any points scored by a 2nd claim or guest runner will be deleted from the league tables though those runners will still be included in the results.
As a matter of interest if this rule been in effect last winter the overall results in both the handicap and time leagues would have been unaffected.
 
 
 
45 FINISHED. 
A note on the Handicap League from Franny
101 FINISHED.
30th U15B J.RUFFELL 16min. 51secs.

240 FINISHED.