Essex CC Champs: Men 1st, Women 5th
After a dominant performance, our men lifted the Essex CC trophy yesterday at Hadleigh. Our women finished 5th. Harold Wyber just missed out on an individual medal, while Kat Gundersen was our first woman finisher. Our men's B team also finished an impressive 5th and we were the only club to close a C team.
Photos (by Alex Wardle)
Men
Our men's team went into this year's race having won silvers behind Chelmsford the previous two years. Prior to that, we had won the trophy in 2006 and 2008 after a drought dating back to 1974. We knew we had a good, solid squad this year, featuring men who don't mind the severe conditions posed by the Hadleigh course, and there was unlikely to be any serious opposition other than Chelmsford. Then, prior to the race, team manager Terry McCarthy was told that Chelmsford were weak, so things looked positive before the gun sounded.
A major question revolved around who exactly would make the 6-man team who would take the medals home. Four men – Harold Wyber, Darren Southcott, Angus Holford, Kevin Murphy – looked like certainties. Based on recent Met Leagues, Louis Clark looked nailed on for the 5th place, albeit a little way back. Then the 6th was likely to come from Ben Whitworth, Gareth Cavell and Jim Roche, with Tony Russell an outside bet.
The race tumbled down the first muddy hill led by Tom Payn, an international marathon runner not currently representing a conventional athletics club, and our experienced fell runner Harold Wyber. After that it sorted itself out much as expected for a lap and a half, with our best four men in the top 15 of the race, then Louis Clark, then the other four close together.
But it was all about the second half of the race – who had the physical reserves to run well over the second 6K on the 3-lap course. Behind Payn and Chelmsford's Grant Twist, Wyber formed part of a trio battling for the bronze medal, along with Southend's Tom Frith and Havering's Rob Warner. Southcott was 10-15 seconds back, running strongly in 6th. Holford had had a cold mid-week and was mainly ensuring he did a team job just inside the top 10. And Murphy was never in doubt, unwavering as ever.
Further back things changed dramatically. Surprisingly, Clark hit a bad patch, and Whitworth broke out of the quartet and caught him. Cavell, too, was closing, and by halfway round the last lap they were neck-and-neck, with Cavell looking stronger as Clark visibly wilted.
The final chips were played. Frith kicked away from Wyber (4) to win bronze. Southcott (6) could not close the gap. Holford and Murphy looked stronger as the race went on, and finished 8th and 11th. Whitworth ran terrifically well for 20th on a venue 1 mile from his home. And Cavell burned off the dying Clark on the final hills to delightedly earn that final team spot. The 45-year old Cavell (23) beat all of Essex's top veteran runners, including Smalls (Colchester), Bridgeland (Chelmsford) and Butler (Billericay), and he beat them resoundingly. His was probably the run of the day.
Louis Clark (26) came in 13" down, and Jim Roche (27) was 17" further back. Outside bet Tony Russell felt he had to go with that group to have any chance of medalling, and came in 1 minute further back in 31st, still a very commendable result.
So we closed 9 men in 31, well before any other club closed 6 in the field of 193 finishers. We totalled 73 points. Surprisingly it was our neighbours and, in many cases, friends from Orion Harriers who took the silver medals with 125 points, meaning the balance of power in Essex now rests roughly in the Epping High Road/Highams Park area of West Essex. Colchester Harriers took bronze with 156, with Chelmsford out of the medals.
CJ Shepherd led Tony Pamphion through the first half of the race, but thereafter it was the heavier Shepherd thundering the downills and the lightweight Pamphilon dancing up the slopes, and then using his fabled (amongst a certain generation) finishing sprint to hold off the younger man on the run-in. They were 45th and 46th and were awarded the same time. Joe Everitt is very new to this game but learning quickly and he ran well for 61st.
From Clark to Everitt, those 6 men formed our B team which placed 5th, beating the A teams of clubs such as Springfield Striders, Havering, Ilford, Southend and Thurrock. The second-placed B team were Orion, who scored 490 points to our 236.
We were the only club to also close a C team. Martin Mack led us home around 5 minutes behind Joe Everitt, in 97th place after his usual strong second half. Alistair Holford (100) and Richard Hogg (103) were 11 and 30 seconds behind respectively. Less than a minute later it was Steve Lambert (109), and Chris Maybin (112) was 40" further back, finishing with blood all over his foot from some unknown puncture. Paul Stockings took the glory of final scorer in the C team, finishing 126, while Tom Spanyol (142) was clearly the man who had eaten most plum duff over the Christmas period.
Our C team beat A teams from clubs such as Eton Manor, East London Runners and Pitsea.
Team Manager Terry McCarthy was delighted to lift the trophy once again, "This is great reward for some of our home-grown lads. I think the red-hot competition of the Met League gives our guys a certain advantage in a race like this. Our men are very strong mentally." He also pointed out that this domination came without our two of our best Essex-eligible men, "Some of the other clubs expected us to field Alex Cornwell and Tom Phillips, but Alex is competing indoors in Sheffield, and Tom is at work in Cardiff. All lads who have come up through our ranks."
Elsewhere, Epping resident Tom Beedell won his first county CC title at the Bucks champs. Bertie Powell, who ran while feeling ill, was 11th in the Middlesex champs. And 2nd claimer Jordan Donnelly was 5th in the Merseyside champs. And another very successful run was by 19 year old Ed Shepherd to come 2nd in the Hertfordshire champs, just 13" down on the winner.
18 year old Matt McLaughlin ran 3.48.17 in the 1500m at the BMC Open in Sheffield - this was the fastest indoor 1500m time by a Junior in the UK since 1986, and 4th fastest of all time! Alex Cornwell ran 1.49.70. They were the first two British athletes, 2nd and 3rd behind Spaniard Llorenc Ferre. Video of their race.
Women's race
We knew it would be muddy. Quite how muddy became clear within minutes, as the descending walk to the start line took its toll on pristine trainers, soon swapped midway for spikes, and welly-shod pram pushing dads began to doubt whether their off road contraptions could negotiate the mire. Thanks to the foresight and experience of the more hardened Woodies, our team camp was a bastion of preparedness - at least two capacious groundsheets and the team abuzz with discussion about footwear options - would it be trail shoes or spikes? 12 or 15mm? Do I need tape? Where on earth do I warm up?
We knew the course would be a challenge - 5 miles over two large laps on what can best be describes as a swamp on a tilt (or even a swamp on stilts given the hills) - but the Woodettes were up for it. We didn't close a team at Basildon last year, so to have 5 girls on this most challenging of start lines was a great start to the year. Despite the underfoot conditions the calm, mild weather perhaps accounts for the 122-strong field - last year's was 90.
Downhill starts are always fast and his was no exception, and as is now customary, girly whoops turned to navvy swear words faster than you could say "quagmire".
First home for the Woodettes was Scandy duo Kat Gundersen (9) followed 25" later by Rachel Lund (14). Delighted, after a recent bad'un, to have found her edge, V35 Gundo's post race grin suggested she was very pleased indeed to be back on form, in such challenging conditions and with a quality field. Lundo (15th last year) after a good run of training was similarly satisfied with her quality performance. Third girl home was a very relieved senior Sarah Nicholas ( 27), 2' 30" behind Lund, who delivered a strong run for the team on 5 miles of camber, her result the more impressive given that an mid-week leg niggle made her appearance doubtful. 4' 03" behind Sarah, was fourth and final scorer V45 Jenny Thomas (46) was pleasantly surprised with her position and pleased to score for the team. Closing for the Woodettes, 2' 25" later, XC novice Maxine Davies (56). The newly betrothed Maxine, whose only prior off road experience was a mild autumn Claybury, was delighted to have negotiated the course in one piece and feeling confident of stronger performances to come as she headed off for a well deserved celebratory 'ruby murray'.
The Woodettes were satisfied with fifth and fired up for ML4 in a week's time. "My hat's off to all the girls who braved the mud on Saturday" said Race Day Captain Alex Wardle "It was great to close a team today and the girls should be pleased".
Teams: 1, Havering 43; 2, Chelmsford 64; 3, Colchester 69; .... 5, WGEL 96