Weekend roundup incl. Chingford League
The club had a 1-2 in the men's race hosted by Orion at Chingford on Saturday. The course was a typical Orion offering with lots and lots of mud and a varied exploration of beautiful Epping Forest. For winner Ronnie Sparke, still 19, it was a low-key return to racing.
Dave Barrett took some photos from different points on the tricky course which certainly captured the "blood and guts" nature of the sport. And is this any way to treat the more venerable members of our society?
Ronnie looked fairly comfortable in winning by 50 seconds from Bertie Powell, who himself was saving some energy with the far more important South of England Championships next Saturday in mind. Nonetheless Bertie took 42 seconds out of third-placed Spencer Hempsted of Ilford who was 10th in the recent Essex County Championships. So this was very competent running by our athletes.
Further back, Matt Molloy lost around 20" when his shoe came off in the mud, but finished 15th. Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Wallis had a good battle in the mud with the snooker man just pipping M45 Wallis.
Amongst the women, an impressive Kay Foy in 4th place looks to be developing good strength for the coming 800m season. And 75-year old Charlie Crump, with 2 replacement hips, was a fantastic 164th out of 181 finishers, 15 minutes ahead of the back marker.
Our teams head towards the Southerns next weekend with a good recent track record. The women were Southern champions in 2010 while the men's team won bronze medals.
Elsewhere this weekend, Stephan Wenk finished 2nd in the Windsor Duathlon - run 5K, bike 20K, run 2.5 K.
Over in Christchurch, New Zealand, 800/1500m Kiwi Tim Prendergast was given the honour of reading the Athlete Oath at the opening ceremony of the World Paralympic Athletic Championships. Tim, however, picked up an injury while training 2-3 weeks back and, in his opening event, the T13 1500m final, was sadly forced to limp around in last place after hoping that it had cleared up.
At the Box Hill Fell Race in Surrey, Harold Wyber finished 12th of 268 finishers, around 8 minutes down on winner McMullen of Thames Hare and Hounds.