Newsletter – January 2001

The early start and a cross-country the day before resulted in a very poor turnout for a consistency event. It was bitterly cold day, with the wind chill making it freezing. Jamie Jones had a fine run for Southampton AC in finishing third, according to Belinda he was out sprinted near the line. Obviously the “special medication” had not totally worked or it was the dreaded “elite virus” which struck again (as at the cyclist race). Anyway the £75 he won will be a nice injection into the training weekend beer kitty; thank you Jamie.
P.C. David Mills was running for the Hampshire Police A.C. when at 3K a runner in an Overton shirt passed him. With Dave’s Police training and detective nose he remembered the list of entrants and double-checking the race number, he realised that it was not Steve x Bellies, but an impostor. A quick check to race HQ on his radio and the culprit was having his collar felt. “Hello, Hello, Hello what’s going on here then” Dave was heard to say to a stunned and shame faced David Vosser. Well out came the rule book and under paragraph 12, sub section 5 of the runner impersonation act of 1997 Mr Vosser bad been caught red handed. “I have got you bang to rights this time sonny, your nicked” PC Mills was in full flow and brandishing a fixed penalty notice Mr Vosser was summarily deducted all consistency points. Naturally this slowed our fine upstanding Law Officer and he only finished 90^th in a time of 38.05. Mr Vosser now has a stain on his previously good reputation and will have a lot of explaining to do to the family when he gets home. The result of his arrest and conviction spurred Mr Vosser on to finish just in front of Officer Mills, who slowed to make sure his pocket book was accurate and up to date. Mr Vosser’s arrest cost Officer Mills the Police Championship, but this was of no concern to a pillar of the community, who was only doing his duty.
The real race was between Dalton, Tilbury and Henery, the only official Harrier runners at the event. Dalton took an early lead followed by Henery then Tilbury (the master tactician). Tilbury soon caught Henery but could not open up a gap. At just over 5K Tilbury with Henery right behind see Dalton not far ahead, Tilbury put in a tactical surge, but Henery responded well. At 8K Tilbury played his joker with a do or die sprint, he quickly opened up a gap on Henery and went for it. An older and wiser runner was heard to advise ET that there was still 2K to go and not to be so stupid. But ET was having none of it, he burst past Dalton who responded, by waking up and starting to run, apparently he had fallen into a trance while slowly jogging home. Dalton was heard to say “ET No! Whilst I respect your ability as a master race tactician your paperwork is not in order and you will not pass”. Dalton put in a short burst and ET’s effort was in ruins. Worse was to come as Henery sees Tilbury flagging and cut the gap down, a battle royal ensued, but ET’s valiant effort failed, as he was out sprinted near the line for the second time in the weekend.
Southampton AC Event
3^rd Jamie Jones 32.24
Disgraced other runner Event
74^th David Vosser 37.29
Hampshire Police AC Event
90^th Dave Mills 38.05
Overton Harriers Consistency League
130^th Nick Dalton 39.36 20 points
141^st Dave Henery 39.50 19 points
143^rd Eric Tilbury 39.55 18 points

Overall not one of our best performances, on a clear and very cold day, but nevertheless good experience for the Boys.

Matt Bright traveled down determined to run despite the onset of the effects of an evil bug currently touring Testbourne School. But at the last minute he wisely decided not to risk it.
Aaron Harris, normally used to running 3K cross-country races in the Hampshire League, started cautiously but did not look comfortable with the frozen ground or the distance. He finished in 47^th place in a time of 20:55 out of about 90 finishers and about 4 minutes behind the winner.
Next year Aaron still will be in the same category and I am sure will try to emulate his brother Ronnie who won it back in 1994.

In this race we had John Ruffel in the upper age band and Gareth Plumb in the lower age band.
Both set off well with John moving in to 25^th place, and Gareth slogging it out at the back. At the end of the first of two laps John pulled out with breathing difficulties, brought on by a bout of Testbourne flu from which he thought he had recovered.
Gareth, impervious to the flu, continued the slog and finished in 72^nd place in a time of 29:08 out of 73 finishers and about 9 minutes behind the winner.

On a cold clear day the true diehards of the club trekked south in search of mud and hills. This was a new venue and it was sad that we could not muster enough runners to complete a team in either of the senior events. The course was basically flat on one side and then undulating on the other as we ran along the aptly named Switchback Valley. Parts of the course were very dry but the section farthest from the start area was very wet and during the afternoon a succession of feet turned it into a quagmire that far outdid Milton Keynes in 1952.
Three juniors took part and all did very well. Aaron had a great run to finish 17th in the U13 boys over a shorter course than normal. Matt did well in the U15 boys as did John in the U17’s though fields for both events were small but very competitive. All three can look forwards to the forthcoming schools event with some confidence.
The women were once again led home by Cath who ran superbly to finish 8th. She was 1st in her v40 agegroup and 2nd vet overall. Liz has started to show improved form and did well to finish 3rd in the over 45 group. Helen must have found the extra distance hard work but she put in a great effort to finish 6th in the v40’s age group.
Ian and Dave turned up for a normal 5.5 miler so, finding out the course was over 7.5 miles was a pleasant surprise. Ian however picked a good day to run a blinder, 2nd vet and 14th overall was a tremendous achievement and augers well for the coming months. Mark found the conditions tough but finished in a higher position than he had expected after having a great run. I knew that Dave was after my scalp and watched him disappear from view as he made a strong start. However on the last lap the extra distance worked to my advantage and I managed to catch him in the closing stages. Dave must have been pleased with his run, which was probably his best in a club vest. Steve did extremely well in the treacherous conditions and is still hoping for a runout in the Southerns. The highlight of the day was my almost total immersion in a muddy, smelly puddle that had the watching Marshall in hysterics. (Thanks to Liz, Helen and Sabrina whose support was geared to encouraging me to repeat the dunking).
The only team that we finished was a veteran men’s team of Ian, myself and Dave which finished in 14th place. Where were the rest of you?