Essex Vets CC, Chigwell Row
Kat Gundersen was our sole medal winner at the Essex Vets CC Championship at Chigwell Row. Gundersen won an impressive silver in the W35-44 category. Overall it was our weakest championship for many years as injuries took their toll.The odds-on favourite in the W35 race was Colchester Harriers' Sarah Stradling, who has 2010 clockings of 35.02 for 10K and 75.18 for half-marathon. She dominated the race from the start, leaving Gundersen to battle Annette Oakman, also from Colchester Harriers, for the remaining medals. In the end, Stradling's margin of victory was 2' 38", while Gundersen drew inexorably away from Oakman to be separated by 26" after the 8K race.
After eyeing Jenny Thomas's back for 7.5K of the race, Alex Wardle overhauled her and 2 others in the final, downhill run-in as 5 women crossed the line within 11 seconds. They finished 18th and 21st in the field of 59. With 4 to count, we did not finish a team.
Our top man in the M40 race, Gareth Cavell, fell an early victim to a groin strain, probably caused by running in too-short spikes and slipping. That left John Wallis our leading man. Now 47 years old, Wallis spent much of the race in 11th or 12th position before losing a couple and finishing 14th, around 2.30 down on the winner, Allen Smalls, also of Colchester Harriers. In 37th we had Martin Mack, while making his debut for the club in 73rd place was Grant Corton. Again, we did not finish a team.
Whereas last winter we closed 6 men in 14 in the M50 race, this year our first man home was Paul Chase in 17th in a high quality field in which the first 3 men had represented their country in the Masters International two weeks ago. Chase ran a well-controlled race and overtook Alistair Holford (21) about 3/4 of the way around. Steve Murray (22) closed on Holford but finished 10" behind, while Steve Herington closed the team in 29th. Herington had another agenda, the M60 individual race, in which he was pipped very late on by Tennant of Harlow and Fletcher of Southend, the clear winner being Nixon of Ilford. We also had Tom Spanyol in 45th and a gutsy Charlie Crump, now in his 70s, who finished 84th in the field of 87.
This was the only race in which we closed a team, in 5th place.