Women take gold, men bronze, in Southern CC
There was euphoria in the Woodford camp on Saturday afternoon as the senior women’s team captured their first-ever South of England CC title, and both the senior men and U20 men were represented on the podium with team bronzes. Jessica Sparke’s dominant individual victory in the senior race, to retain the trophy that twin sister Kat won last year, was the icing on a rich cake.
Dave Barrett's photos (look out for the one of Lotfi and Craig tucked in behind Jon Pepper (2nd) and Darren Deed (4th))
Women
After producing three very classy results since early December and in the absence of Olympian Steph Twell, Jess Sparke lived up to her pre-race billing as the favourite and looked majestic as she ran away from the field over 8K from early on to win the Southern title by a huge 59 seconds from Havering’s Harriet Scott. So many people having watched her on television recently, it was no great surprise that Jess took the title. Now we look on with interest to see how she can develop this form and take it forward at international level. What nobody should doubt is the killer instinct that comes from “being a Sparke”, which some people have compared to the “cold-eyed” Clint Eastwood-type who never settles for second-best.
Kat Sparke, meanwhile, off restricted training and limited racing, was with the chasing group until halfway before losing ground to finish 7th which, of course, she will not be content with.
The team having finished a solitary point behind winners Aldershot last year, closing 2 in 8 gave us a huge boost. And Lauren Stewart and Kat Gundersen sealed this historic team victory finishing 32nd and 38th respectively. Marathon runner Stewart came strongly from behind to finish just 1 place lower than in 2009, while Gundersen was aggressive early on and reaped the rewards of a keenly-focused winter training schedule to finish a marvellous 30 places higher than last year.
Team totals: 1, WGEL 78; 2, Aldershot 103; 3, Winchester 137; 4, Highgate 140; 5, Shaftesbury 178; 6, Basildon 209; 7, Serpentine 225; 8, London Heathside 258.
Team Manager Alex Wardle and the squad were naturally delighted to grasp the historic silver trophy, dating back to 1934, for the first time, “The men’s section of the club has tended to be the dominant partner, so we’re pleased that we can now throw the gauntlet down and set the pace. We’re ready to do battle with the best in Britain.”
As the medal winners stood aloft the podium, we closed a club record 11 women in the field of 357. Met League stalwarts Maggie Powell (73) and Rachel Lund (83) were next in, Powell being 1’ 40” down on Gundersen, and Lund a further 40” back. Di Kennedy was next home in 118 (98 in 2009), possibly paying a small price for focusing on steeplechase technique recently. An under-the-weather Andrea Possee forced herself around for 169, around a minute ahead of training partner Jenny Thomas in 199. Manager Wardle herself was satisfied with 213 as opposed to 236 last year, and Kav Solder struggled gamely round in 259 after losing a shoe.
Men
With these Senior Women golds in the bag, and the U20 men enjoying the podium too, there was elation at Woodford base camp prior to the men’s race in which 806 finished. We had 21 men on the start line, of which Team Manager Terry McCarthy hoped optimistically that we might close 9 in 100. With big hitters Newham absenting themselves in order to compete next week in the European Clubs CC, things were simplified for the other pretenders, and our men took advantage by performing very well.As he frequently does on these occasions, England road international Dave Wardle spearheaded our efforts, settling in the top 20, running strong, and picking off some very good athletes to finish 13th – despite going backwards on the muddy sections. Next man in was Hywel Care. After his 20th of last year, his 32nd place took the shine off his team medals for him, but certainly did not detract from his team contribution. Blackpool-raised Martyn Cryer, like Craig Berg, worried manager McCarthy by going through a bad patch in front of his manager’s eyes, but did plenty of good work while out of sight and finished strongly for 36th in his first Southern (1.5 miles longer than the Midlands or his customary Northern). In only his second race for Woodford, Lotfi Chebli ran a very gutsy race after going out hard, drifting backwards, and suffering from cramp. Again, despite worrying his manager, he showed true Woodford grit and hung on gamely, indeed, finishing quite strongly, for 39th. Just 22secs separated Care, Cryer and Chebli.
Most pleasing of all was the sight of Craig Berg and Angus Holford, two first-year seniors, totally home-grown, totally unintimidated by the notorious 9-mile Parliament Hill Southern, racing it out for a terrific 54 and 55 and winning themselves prestigious Southern CC medals. Berg had attacked hard from the off, went backwards fast, regained his composure and fought solidly through to the finish, whereas Holford ran a perfectly composed race which involved picking off club legend Kevin Murphy halfway around and putting 40 seconds between himself and the Great Man in Pink Shorts.
Holford closed the scoring six and we matched our achievement of 2008 in winning bronze medals behind an excellent Bedford team who quite rightly earned a double-page spread in Athletics Weekly two weeks ago and an Aldershot squad who, despite lacking some major talents, closed 6 in 45 and an impressive 9 in 71. Our team total of 230 was 50 better than our 2008 total.
Teams: 1, Bedford 100; 2, Aldershot 185; 3, WGEL 230; 4, Thames H&H 349; 5, Kent 366; 6, Highgate 429…. 12, Serpentine 895; 13, Shaftesbury 919….
Manager McCarthy was exultant with another Southern bronze, “Including the 12-stage, that’s 4 Southern bronzes since 2008 after 45 barren years. The South is a tough region, with Beagles, Belgrave – who only closed 5 men today – Bedford and Aldershot. But we keep muscling in there with the big boys, and we’re not going to go away.”
Kev Murphy, father to a new-born baby and thus missing sleep and training, remains a legend despite his 69th which was, in fact, excellent backup on the day. Next in was Tim Prendergast, our very partially-sighted (5%) Kiwi whose 130th compared with 96th last year. New Zealand Paralympic skipper Prendo, a 1500m runner, declared in his blunt, Antipodean manner, “9 miles is a bit far for me”. In 139, back from the dead, as it were, was Jimmy Roche, who has had endless struggles with a mysterious leg syndrome which has prevented Woodford seeing the best of him. Roche and Kat Gundersen (see above) came to Woodford as a joint package and to date it has been Gundo who has shone – but manager McCarthy insists that Roche has “unfinished business”.
In 156… perhaps the bravest run of the day... Bertie Powell, who lost a shoe on the first lap but never dreamed of abandoning as it would have dented his chances of retaining the Ken Bray Trophy for winter consistency, the constant winning of which is making this young man a club legend. Bertie Powell, a man of almost infinite courage – last year he ran the Southern with a sore throat and temperature so high it would have kept Joe Public in their bed howling out for cold compresses!
Irish international triathlete Matt Molloy nailed 200th and 11th man home with a very sound run which reflected his training. You get few surprises from Molloy as his scientific approach covers all bases. And closing our scoring 12, in 260, was Alan Rugg, now widely known for snatching the coveted bronze medal in front of men like Dave Cox and Richard Holland in December’s hotly contested Essex M50 CC championship.
A little less prestigious than the 6-to-score competition is the 12-to-score competition for which no medals are awarded, but which seasoned Southern-watchers study with no little interest. This year the results were: 1, Aldershot 795; 2, Bedford 1000; 3, WGEL 1184; 4, Highgate 1398; ……….7, Serpentine 2684; ……12, Shaftesbury 4336. The “Essex Trophy” is awarded to the first Essex club to finish 12 men and, with no official confirmation, we undoubtedly retained this for the 5th year in succession. In fact, it seems that no other Essex club closed 12 men.
Woodford, meanwhile, were far from finished - our men continued to stream in. Dave Cox, a Woodford athlete for 45 years, made his first Southern appearance for around 20 years. Finishing 308, Coxy then asked himself why! City slicker CJ Shepherd had been celebrating “bank bonus week” all week thus was not exactly at his sharpest, but his marathon training got him round in 374 and a good 90 seconds ahead of Iain Thompson (404) who revealed a lack of turning up for Saturday morning sessions in the park. Just 11 seconds and 8 places behind Thommo was Tony Pamphilon (412), a great run from the mystery-syndrome-afflicted-legendary-music-quizmaster who we hope will be back to his talented best next winter.
80 seconds down on Pamphilon was Keith McShea, racing over-distance and enjoying a first taste of the infamous Hampstead terrain. Martin Mack (576) ran a very good race and can regard Steve Ladhams (613) as a bit of a scalp, though Mack is a little more experienced than Ladhams. And then, with around 150 runners behind them, Steve Lambert (662) and Jonny Hargreaves (663) came in separated by just 5”, the story behind which will surely be revealed in intricate and exciting detail on Tuesday night when the outrageously thespian WHU fan Lambert appears for training (we may then approach the modest Hargreaves for the down-to-earth story).
Manager McCarthy paid tribute to his squad as a whole, “There’s no hiding at Parliament Hill, and it was great to get 21 men around the 9 miles. It’s important that our top men know they’re not alone, that they have moral support coming from behind. Let’s face it, some clubs these days struggle to get a simple scoring six around Parly Hill.”