Newsletter – November 2000

Meeting closed 9.35pm
LORDSHILL 10 MILE ROAD RACE – 12.11.00 BY J.T.
Despite that this was the Club 10-Mile Championships and 4^th consistency event, only 7 members turned out. The weather was ideal – bright and sunny, and no significant wind. Up to 7 miles the course was very flat and apart from a few flood areas on the road ideal for good times. However at 7 miles things became a good deal more difficult with a stiff hill climb followed by several undulations. The course also passed through surprisingly quiet rural areas very close to the city of Southampton.
We were lead home by Keith Clark who had an excellent run in 7^th place but in a good time of 57.12 (?PB) and for most of the way was followed by Paul who should have finished in the first 15, but went off course following two Southampton Road Runners!. By the time he had realised his mistake he was way down the field appearing just in front of Eric. He managed to pass Nick and Gavin but only finished up with 70^th position. This cost us dearly in the Hants Road Race League.
Nick managed to hold off Gavin, who in turn, held off Eric who was having an excellent run to finish in 66-36.
Dave was a bit disappointed not to break 70 minutes despite his “panic training”, but well ahead of J.T. who, apart from the main hill, enjoyed the race immensely.
RESULTS
7 K. CLARK 57-12
70 P. WHEELER 65-11
73 N. DALTON 65-38
88 G. DUNCAN 66-09
92 E. TILBURY 66-36 (2^nd over 55)
127 D. HENRY 70-07
177 J. THOMAS 73-53 (3^rd over 60)
Approx. 400 finished

 
BOURNEMOUTH 10 MILES ROAD RACE – 19.11.00
Our second consistency 10-miler only attracted 4 members, all of whom were delighted with the extra points. An extremely strong breeze blowing from the west and therefore in the faces of the runners on the final 4¼ miles of the course spoilt many times, but our evergreen Eric who had an excellent run and beat a whooshless Nick by a huge gap and gained 20 points. Nick had rather hoped to get near his P.B. on this normally, rather easy course but it was not to be.
Dave gave his best shot to catch the others, starting very fast along the promenade and had Nick and Eric in his sights for some time. In the end he was only 49 seconds behind Nick – an excellent run.
J.T. enjoyed the run until the wind took over whereupon things seemed to come to a grinding halt particularly back along the promenade for the last 1¼ miles.
RESULTS
( 7 J. JONES 54.00)82 E. TILBURY 65-54 (2^nd 0ver 45)
94 N. DALTON 67-06
101 D. HENRY 67-55
173 J. THOMAS 75-05 (3^rd over 60)
368 finished
 
HANTS. XC LEAGUE at READING.
4th NOVEMBER.
 
After the bad weather of the previous week most of us expected a very heavy course, it was therefore a nice surprise to find less mud than last year. With the sun actually shining at times the temperature was not too bad but as at Farley Mount numbers were down on last year despite our effort to boost the size of the fields.We had four runners in the U13 boys; Aaron led them home in 19th place. Scott had a good run and Jamie made a promising debut against older lads. Chris is gaining in strength and had a solid run. Their team showed a good improvement to finish 7th.Matt is showing the benefits of some good training in the U15 age group and was well supported by Gareth while Tom did well to complete his first race of the season and anchor the team to 9th place. John was our only U17 and he finished strongly in a mass finish.
The senior men’s saw “wrong vest” Jamie get the better of our first counter. Mike improved on his previous position to give us a good start. Ian and Chris had a close race with only 9 seconds separating them. With another fine run from Mark the points looked good and it was Keith who closed the team as he just pipped Paul who in turn closed the Vets team. The seniors improved on their opening league position to take 4th place and therefore move one place up the table. The vets were beaten by Portsmouth on count back but still lead the table.
Martin wasn’t far behind then a close finish saw Bob and Dave overhaul Gavin in the closing stages. Nick showed his “luv of the mud” and was well clear of Dave Henery who is really going well lately. I was pleased with my effort while Steve finished strongly to pass Geoff and Dave Bright, who had a much improved run. Mick showed signs of improvement while JT completed the squad after putting the frightners on Steve at the end of the first lap.
The senior ladies were led home again by Cath who had another splendid run, Nicky ran well to make the top 50 ahead of Liz who anchored the team to 10th place. Close behind came Audra with Helen putting in another fine run to anchor the Vets home in 3rd spot.

COMPETITION !!!!!
 
Following the Hants. cross-country event at Reading it became apparent most club members are an unfit bunch……either that or a bunch of con artists. Both before and after the race excuses for below par performances came thick and fast, especially after several pints at the Pineapple. Even people who had good runs were making excuses, they included:Bob Taylor (recovering from injury),Dave Mills (work), Gavin (bad cold), Nick (I don’t like cross country) Franny (another cold), Steve (tight hamstring) and JT (“I’m over 20 years older than you lot).
Geoff’s excuse hasn’t been heard yet though it is alleged he was gored by a bull on an earlier outing. Denny’s excuse for not starting was that he was pregnant…does Audra know.
To honour these hypochondriacs the White Hart newsletter sub-committee will try to pick out the best excuse of the month, lets see if anyone is inventive enough to compete against Tony Orb.
HANTS. LEAGUE TABLES AFTER TWO RACES.
 

TILFORD CROSS-COUNTRY.
25th NOVEMBER.
 This was an event that I found advertised in Running magazine and put on the club fixture list several weeks ago. The 5.5 mile course was an absolute cracker in pine woods between Farnham and Guildford. It had just about everything that a cross-country event should have:plenty of marshals, only one stiff hill (climbed twice), three hair raising descents per lap and terrain that varied from hard packed sand, very loose sand (especially on those descents), mud, and a 100 meter stretch of path that turned into a stream during the race.
The only downside may have been the constant downpour of rain which reduced the normal field of 40-50 runners to just 18 men. After agreeing our tactics the top of the opening rise saw an Overton 1-2 but after half a mile Mark forged on ahead. After a short opening loop he had a small lead which he increased on the first of the two main laps. However he was not to have it all his own way because on the final lap he was closed down by Chris Finill of Harrow AC and had to work all the way to the line for his narrow (2 seconds) victory.
Despite leading early on I didn’t think it was that fast and after the opening loop was in 6th spot. Two runners passed me just before the first big climb and got clear, but despite running my best cross country for some years I could only close the gap slightly and had to be satisfied with 8th place and 4th vet.
Facilities at the local school after the race were excellent, Mark got only a medal for winning but for an entry fee of only two pounds fifty no one was complaining. This is a great venue for true cross-country running plus they also cater for the junior age-groups as well. The next fixture on February 10th is the day before the Wokingham half-marathon (our club champs).The following fixture is March 3rd, this is a blank weekend so far and would make an ideal warm-up event for the Southern vets XC champs the following weekend.

18 FINISHED.VILLAGE HANDICAP.

   9th NOVEMBER.
The second race of the season saw the field of 28 runners boosted by 9 debutees. It was nice to see that I got the handicaps almost right with the three PB’s all finishing in the top four places. First home was John who ran a 58 sec. improvement to hold off the fast finishing Keith Clark who ran his 2nd PB in a row (15sec.). Liz, as predicted, has shown an improvement on last years form and took 3rd place ahead of the final PB which went to Mark.Fastest on the night was Jamie with Mark’s 8 second PB taking him under 20 minutes for the first time. This moves him up to 24th on the all-time list. There was a tie for third fastest with the timekeeper being unable to split the two Keiths.
Early days yet but the inform Keith Clark leads the h’cap table ahead of John and Liz. The time league is too tight to call at the moment. Other good runs came from Gareth (who just pipped Matt on time), Dave Bright who is improving with every run and Steve McNair who as expected is running into form just before the cross-country handicap.