Afternoon Harriers
Molehills in the Meadows
Saturday saw the first XC meeting of the new season at Footscray Meadows in Sidcup. Despite the torrential rain on Friday the ground was still very firm and there was no sign of any mud. Thankfully the temperature had cooled down from the highs of last week resulting in a pleasant sunny afternoon for racing.
We had a fantastic turnout of 56 Harriers, including many new faces, most of which were still smiling at the end 🙂
SuperVets
First up were our SuperVets, running a 5km course consisting of 2 small laps followed by one large lap. Mark Taylor led the TWH SuperVets followed by Stella Richardson and Margaret Deighton. In the M70+ category Mark finished 5th overall with Stella and Margaret finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in the W65+ category.
Senior Women
The 8km Senior Women’s race took place on a course consisting of 2 short laps followed by 2 long laps. It was great to see so many new additions to the Women’s team as well as some strong performances at the start of the season.
Laura Whitehead, making her debut, led the charge for TWH closely followed by Amelie Karlsson. Laura maintained her lead until the last lap where Amelie finally caught her, finishing first TWH woman and 7th overall in the race. Laura was next (10th) followed by Tara Taylor (23rd overall and 2nd W55), who put in a superb performance to make up the 3 to score.
Charlie Adiseshiah (32nd), Vicky Eames (36th), also running her debut race for TWH, and Jillian Holford (37th) made up the 6 to score.
The women finished 4th/19 in the 3 to score and 3rd/11 in the 6 to score.
Senior Men
Last but not least, the Senior Men’s race took place over exactly the same course that the women had just raced. Again it was great to see so many new additions to the Men’s team.
Competition was fierce as usual and Ed Steele, who had spent most of the afternoon marshalling, put in a cracking performance to finish first Harrier in 46th pace overall. He was followed by Andy Eames (100th), Alex Holmes (103rd) and James Sarre (122nd) to make up the 4 to score.
The 12 to score was completed by Stuart Corke (147th), Elliot Chiles (149th), Mike King (153rd), Ken MacSporran (157th), Jack Summers (164th), Robin Barwick (172nd), Geoff Turner (175th) and Richard Bysouth (180th).
Elliot Chiles, Jack Summers and Richard Bysouth were also making their debut appearance for TWH.
The men finished 11th/19 in the 4 to score and 7th/10 in the 12 to score.
The first race of the season is always a bit of a shock to the system but everyone was pleased that it had started. There was a great buzz around the TWH club tent as we all tucked into cake afterwards. A large number of us then adjourned to the Bull Inn up the road in St Paul’s Cray.
Many thanks to Andrew Deighton for collecting and transporting the club gazebo. Also a big thank you to all those who spent the afternoon marshalling. The County coordinator came and expressed his thanks afterwards. Thanks also to everyone who made cake as well as those who came to support us.
*** Results below ***
Kind regards
Simon & Jillian Holford
TWH XC Captains