Last Saturday saw the second of the four crosscountry league races at Somerhill. The marmite of the XC season! The ladies course remained the same as the previous years but the men’s course had a slight change to include yet more hills.
Personally this is my favourite of all the league races. The grounds at Somerhill are beautiful and the course interesting with ups and downs and twists and turns but then again I only had to run 5k rather than the gruelling 10k the men had to run (other than Tim who opted for the ladies distance). Also, given that it’s such a local venue there is always lots of support which is brilliant especially on those lung burning hills.
We had seven ladies and nineteen men running. A few of whom, showing incredible commitment (madness?!) to the club had run Amsterdam marathon less than a week before.
The ladies race saw the GB representing Clay sisters racing again and winning by a large margin. First harrier and first V35 was Alice Heather-Hayes in 6th, Pru Clements in 21st and Jeannette White in 27th making up the three to score. Jillian Holford came 40th, Emma Perry in 58th and Carol Tsang in 62nd making up the six to score. There were 100 finishers. The M70s run with the ladies in the league races, Eric finished first in his category with Spud coming 3rd.
The men’s race saw Andy Howey run a brilliant race finishing 35th overall and first for the Harriers and second M50 but by less than 30 seconds, next was Chris Wolton in 42nd, John Law in 58th, Stuart Shields 60th, Matt Clements in 72nd and Sam Begg in 77th making up the six to score. New member Max Richards came 80th, Matt Clarke 90th, Steve Woodruffe 95th, Terry Everest 101st, Andy Joad 104th and Simon Howden came 109th to make up the twelve to score.
The ladies now lie 4th in the three to score team and 3rd in the six to score. The men are 7th in the four to score and 5th in the twelve to score.
The next fixture is the ladies and M70 only event at Sparrows Den on Saturday 8th November.
Thanks and well done to all those who ran, especially those with tired legs from racing the week before, thanks to all who came to support and big thanks to Lucy Clements who kept track of all the results as we raced, I am in awe of her organisational skills!
Hope to see lots of you racing and supporting on the 8th November.