Famed for its mud and former famous resident George Michael, Hampstead Heath hosts the annual cross country championships of Parliament Hill. A course designed to test your resolve, but a lot of fun to spectate at too.
The 2019 SEAA ‘Southern’ XC champs saw 5 ladies and a record 15 men competing, with a load of new faces too. The journey up was helped by Southern insisting on putting a whole 4 carriages on the train, which became a stuffy mess by the time we reached London Bridge. We passed the time as usual by pretending the club flagpole was a hand hold, racking up at least 5 victims on the way.
Despite my perfect train planning, some harriers had already arrived and found another foolhardy club had taken our proud spot on the railings, so we were forced to move slightly further along than usual.
‘Dry’ January certainly helped, making most parts of the course hardly a patch on previous muddy years and similar to 2018. It was even a pretty warm day up until the moment the ladies’ race started as driving rain showered everyone shivering in their start pens. We didn’t have any idea of the course layout as SEAA had decided to upload a picture of Hampstead Heath instead of a course map and situated the actual map inside their paid programmes (separate for both junior and senior races)
In the ladies’ 8k race, Jillian put in a strong performance throughout to lead the team home. Upon advice from Tonbridge chief-supporter Di Bradley I took up the forest photo position that Alan Bennet normally occupies, bravely taking photos of everyone in the toughest part of the course until a clueless photographer took up position directly in front where I was shooting. Suzannah also donned her first set of XC spikes, opting for the 9 inch nails incase she need tread on anyone.
I got back just in time to see the 1200 participants of the senior men’s 15k race line up. Unable to see where our team started I scanned the throng of runners, only to suddenly see Adam Dennis elbowing Andy Howey out the way to make a courageous start worthy of Tom Wooley. As a newcomer, I’d given Adam some advice to get ahead of the crush that can happen at the top of the initial hill, seeing him at the literal front of the pack I tried in vain to call out that this was not what I’d intended.
There were very strong performances from meta-photo Andy Howey and Kieran, with Matt Clements some 2 minutes faster than in 2017. Simon Howden also put on a good performance moving through the field. Neil Clark foolishly gave Alan Bennet a thumbs-up instead of powering up the hill and I took up another brave position on a nearby comfy bench to take more photos.
In an unusual move for SEAA, any runners that wanted to see their results in a paper form had to buy them, though there was at least a decent online results system this year and the clocks were not based off of the start of the first race.
Post-race and after sampling some vegan balls, we ventured to the usual Southampton Arms – barely able to make it through the door to lay down the flagpole and get a round in. We even managed to sit down in a shocking turn of events. The heavens then promptly opened to drench us on the way to the Dartmouth Arms, now reopened for a 2nd year! Seeing that Millwall was playing on the TVs we quickly sought further shelter in the Monsoon curry house for a record 11-person, 30-bottle meal. Sadly, Bedford and County turned up again trophy-less and took this loss out on the ambient noise of the restaurant
We then retreated to the haven of our homes and gave comfort to a nice train conductor who had to deal with the fallout of a very unwell passenger.
Needless to say, I’m sure we all got home safely. Eventually.
Thanks to Bob and Ian for coming along to support.
Ed Steele
Men’s XC Captain/Photographer
Photos are here
https://photos.twharriers.org.uk/Races/Cross-Country/Southerns-2019/
Senior Ladies 8k
703 finishers
| POS | NAME | BIB | GUN TIME | SCORE |
| 229 | Jillian Holford | 5758 | 00:36:15 | 229 |
| 421 | Michele Bradshaw | 5757 | 00:40:06 | 421 |
| 447 | Suzannah Kinsella | 5759 | 00:40:43 | 447 |
| 550 | Amanda Smith | 5760 | 00:43:34 | 550 |
| 586 | Carol Tsang | 5761 | 00:45:06 |
Senior Men 15k
1154 finishers (within 90 minute time limit)
| POS | NAME | BIB | GUN TIME | SCORE |
| 305 | Andrew Howey | 4570 | 00:56:29 | 305 |
| 429 | Kieran Fitzpatrick | 4568 | 00:58:46 | 429 |
| 649 | Matthew Clements | 4565 | 01:02:30 | 649 |
| 673 | Tobyn Young | 4584 | 01:03:01 | 673 |
| 721 | Simon Howden | 4569 | 01:03:58 | 721 |
| 747 | Casper Morris | 4572 | 01:04:23 | 747 |
| 796 | Joshua Pratt | 4576 | 01:05:20 | |
| 885 | Ben Muir | 4573 | 01:07:24 | |
| 906 | Chris Walmsley | 4582 | 01:07:55 | |
| 923 | Neil Clark | 4564 | 01:08:31 | |
| 961 | Steve Austin | 4562 | 01:09:30 | |
| 981 | Geoff Turner | 4581 | 01:10:31 | |
| 1030 | Adam Dennis | 4566 | 01:12:31 | |
| 1120 | Mel Taylor | 4579 | 01:21:05 | |
| 1124 | Nicholas Pierce | 4575 | 01:21:58 |