South of England CC: Senior Men 4th
It was a tense and exciting affair while it lasted, the Senior Men's 15K race at Stanmer Park. Our squad travelled with hope of bringing back some glory - a medal, or maybe the 12-to-score team trophy - but returned empty-handed having given their very best and performed with great spirit and club pride. We finished 4th in the most prestigious of the competitions, the 6-to-score, and 3rd in the 12-to-score. Hywel Care was our first man home, while Harold Wyber and Bertie Powell both posted particularly pleasing performances.
Our plans and hopes were rocked on the day of the race when Dave Wardle, on paper our fastest man, withdrew suffering from a sore throat. Having helped us to various medals over the last 4 years, this was due to be his last race for the club as he will now be representing his local club, North Herts RRC. It meant that our remaining men had to be at their very best while keeping our fingers crossed that enough of our rivals would fail to perform to their potential. Our start line pen was adjacent to what was clearly a very strong and focused Highgate outfit.
It was a pig of a "scenic" course which was unfamiliar to most of the team, with uphills of around a kilometre followed by the same back down. Daniel Agustus, who likes a quick start, got himself positioned around 20th early on and then settled in around 26th for much of the race. Care, Wyber, Powell and Tom Beedell all looked reasonably well placed in the 40-60 region, with Tomaz Plibersek closing our scoring 6 a little further back (photo). From early in the race it looked as though, of our strongest 8 men, it would be Angus Holford and Stephan Wenk that would miss out on the scoring six. Our next four men (Matt Molloy, Jim Roche, Gareth Cavell, Tony Pamphilon) did not look high enough to give us realistic prospects in the 12-to-score.
We still felt we were in with a chance in the 6-to-score as the team race looked difficult to call. Highgate, Bedford, Aldershot and Shaftesbury had men placed highly but the depth of Aldershot and Shaftesbury looked questionable.
As the gruelling race went into its final 2 miles, Dan Agustus and Tomaz Plibersek both started hitting the wall - Agustus with stomach discomfort which even forced him to stop at one point, and Plibersek possibly paying the price for recent very high mileage. Care had run strongly and was picking individuals off gradually. The resurgent Wyber was flying. Powell "had his racing eyes in" - fired up and glued to Wyber's back. And Tom Beedell looked stronger as the race went on, not far behind Powell.
Down off the hill for the only bit of flat in the race, the run for home. The extremely consistent Care had hoped to top his best Southern performance of 20 in the mire at Uxbridge in 2009, but he had to settle for 27th of the 745 finishers. Wyber was next in, 44th and 83" down on Care. As we watched from the hill, Powell overtook Agustus in the finishing straight but Agustus responded - battling for Ken Bray Trophy points, we thought. It turned out that Agustus was so in the zone that he had been unaware of Powell's presence. It was Agustus 47 and Powell 48, just 6" and 7" behind Wyber respectively. And Tom Beedell had closed both down to finish only a second behind in 50th. 4 men across the line within 8" after 15K of running - quite remarkable!
Agustus was, of course, very disappointed. Wyber, Powell and Beedell were entitled to feel very pleased with their runs. Just over one minute later, Tomaz Plibersek closed our team in 79, shattered and having lost around 20 places on the last lap.
Our effort was not enough and we finished an honourable 4th. Highgate took the title closing their 6 in 42 for a 157 total, ahead of perennial medalists Bedford on 174. And it was Shaftesbury who took the bronze with a terrific 4, 10, 22 and 24 followed by 74 and 122 for 259 points. Our own total was 295. The rest of the top 10 was made up Kent (333), Herne Hill (414), Newham (414), Serpentine (422) and Aldershot (492, despite their 4 in 30). So 5 Met League teams in the top 8.
Team Manager Terry McCarthy was visibly disappointed, "The guys left their heart and soul out there, but it just wasn't quite good enough today. But it's our choice - we prefer to be disappointed with 4th than happy with, say, 10th!"
The course was probably on the dry side for Angus Holford, who ran solidly for 92nd. Stephan Wenk (110), right now, is at the nadir of his training year and he never looked comfortable with either his footwear or the terrain, despite being a classy mountain runner. He ran out of energy well before the finish line. Matt Molloy and Jim Roche were rarely separated by much and both ran well as they were our 9th and 10th scorers in 169 and 182. Roche, who is prone to the occasional duff run, was pleased to finish within 20" of the extremely steady Molloy, and both took some very decent scalps such as Lashmar (Victoria Park), while Muir of our neighbours Ilford was just 7" ahead of Roche.
The remaining 2 members of our scoring twelve both suffered badly. Gareth Cavell's (250) hamstrings tightened worryingly early on and seemed to sap his energy, while Tony Pamphilon (294) ran the last 2 miles grimacing as he tried to cope with cramp in both legs. Both runs had a little of the heroic about them as the men refused to give in, knowing that we were keen on the 12-to-score competition. It turned out that we finished 3rd in this behind Highgate (1009) and Serpentine, whose 1371 just pipped our 1392. Our 2nd sextet, or "B" team, finished 19th overall and 4th B team behind Highgate, Serpentine and Herne Hill.
As a consolation prize, we retained the Essex Cup, which is awarded to the first Essex club to close 12 men. This was our 7th consecutive victory.
Manager McCarthy, "Again, 3rd in the South really is something to be very satisfied with when you consider the huge number of clubs in the south and its strength as a region."
We were to wait 9 minutes for the next of our remaining 4 finishers, who all earned good Ken Bray Trophy points. Alistair Holford was 549, Steve Lambert 576, Andy Smith 593 and Richard Hogg 661. At those levels it really is a war of attrition and damage limitation, as running over 9 miles of that sort of terrain is a mighty challenge in itself.
In that respect, congratulations are due to the 16 men who completed the notorious Stanmer Park circuit. 7.5 miles at Parliament Hill might even begin to feel "easy" after that. Might.