Dartford’s central park was once again the setting for this years race where us oldies get to fight it out for a bit of kudos. The course is typical for cross country, a couple of football pitches with technical turns then some banks to descend and ascend with a long straight bit to finish.
It was cold still and when the sun came out, pretty perfect for running, soft under foot but not really muddy. Hopefully if you’re reading this and you haven’t tried x-country before, you will at some stage come along! Its Proper hard but extremely rewarding and the camaraderie is second to none.
For myself this course / event has been a bit of a nemesis as injury has struck me down twice before, in this very race, last year and a couple of years ago. So this year knowing I was in good form, I really wanted to go well and support our chairman in the team event.
A great turn out from our M50 brigade and Andy, me and Chris potter gained a bronze medal for our team of 3 with Geoff Turner and the rest of the guys pushing hard to stop other teams from scoring as in the KGP.
Let me just say that one of the great things about x country is that you get great support from your club mates and then when they run you can return the favour. Us M50’s were off first and the support was fantastic. Next up running half the distance was all the women’s categories with the M60’s M70’s M80’s. Lastly was the M40’s again same distance as the M50’s.
The TWH results are below but a few things id like to say was:-
GREAT TO SEE
The support of our club, camaraderie
New runners to the event / cross country Tom Fox, Andrew Deighton. Ana Maria Green
Harriers like Simon Whitaker and James Sarre, getting back to running following injuries
Carol Tsang and Claire Hayhurst-Knowles Smiling all the way round
Cheeky our beloved President back in the deck chair running x country!
Dave Hadaway
Photos from the day by Ed
Special guest appearance by tiny Peter Richardson
| Results M40 | |||
| 17th | Tom Woolley | 31.57 | |
| 29th | Simon Howden | 33.46 * | (banter) |
| 34th | James Sarre | 34.15 | |
| 50th | Saul Harris | 35.59 | |
| 6th team out of 11 (4 to score) | |||
| Results M50 | |||
| 4th | Andy Howey | 31.05 | |
| 21st | Dave Hadaway | 33.45 * | (banter) |
| 30th | Chris Potter | 34.40 | |
| 44th | Geoff Turner | 36.47 | |
| 48th | Andy Joad | 37.15 | |
| 54th | Clem Dixon | (x Country banter) | |
| 57th | Simon Whitaker | 38.02 | |
| 61st | Martin Hobbs | 38.21 | |
| 63rd | Michael Russell | 38.31 | |
| 66th | Colin Timmins | 38.41 | |
| 74th | Andrew Deighton | 40.47 | |
| 79th | Luke Edwards-Evans | 41.16 | |
| 83rd | Tom Fox | 42.55 | |
| 3rd team out of 11 (3 to score) Evidence of Dave getting his medal |
|||
| Results M60 | |||
| 12th | Steve Austin | 22.44 | |
| 33rd | Nick Pierce | 26.22 | |
| 38th | Peter Richardson | 27.34 | |
| 48th | Alan Cheek | 31.06 | |
| 7th Team out of 11 (3 to score) | |||
| Result M70 | |||
| 24th | Bryon Taylor | 48.56 | (actually M80 2nd 0f 2) |
| Ladies F35 (entered as F35) | |||
| 12th | Jillian Holford | 23.01 | |
| 22nd | Ana-Maria Green | 25.27 | |
| 24th | Sonja King | 25.49 | |
| 27th | Louise Hazelton | 26.07 | |
| 28th | Clare Andrew | 26.19 | |
| 30th | Rose Sawyer | 26.28 | |
| 31st | Carol Tzang | 26.48 | |
| 32nd | Claire Hayhurst | 26.49 | |
| 4th team out of 7 (missed 3rd by one point, 3 to score) | |||
| Ladies F55 | |||
| 5th | Michele Bradshaw | 24.53 | (1st F60) |
| 16th | Lucille Joannes | 30.31 | (6th F60) |