Essex Veterans XC: Claybury

Our men's M50 team won gold at the Essex Veterans XC Championship which we hosted at Claybury on Saturday. On an individual level, Bernadine Pritchett took gold in the W45 category, while we had two 5th place finishes, in Gareth Cavell (M40) and Ray Dzikowski (M50).

On terrain that was mostly quite to very firm after the initial muddy 400m, the first race incorporated the Men's M50 and M60 races plus the women's categories. Bernadine Pritchett led the W45 category throughout, finishing 22" clear of Eton Manor's Zoe Woodward as they finished 10th and 13th overall in the race. Jenny Thomas ran very well for 10th W45 and 22nd overall, while Alex Wardle placed 24th W45 and 46th overall in the field of 86. The race was won by the very impressive June Allen of Springfield Striders.

The M50/M60 race was unusual in that it was won by an M60, the outstanding David Butler of Billericay Striders who finished 2nd M60 in the Home Countries Masters International recently. Behind we were clear winners of the team race, with Ray Dzikowski top dog on the day, finishing a fine 5th, 13" clear of Tony Pamphilon (7th) and 24" clear of Dave Cox (8th). Alan Rugg, in 12th, was a further minute back. Dave Cox took silver in the M60 race, being over 2 minutes ahead of the bronze medalist. We also had Andy Coleman (34) and Stuart Phillips (90) in the field of 103 finishers.

The M40 race had a runaway winner in the form of Colchester's Adrian Mussett, who was almost 2 minutes clear of 2nd placer Spencer Hempsted of Ilford. Mussett's time, running solo, would have placed him an impressive 15th in the first Met League race last month, when the course was slightly faster. Nevertheless, Gareth Cavell continued his excellent 2013 by claiming 5th place in a high-quality field, being only 36" away from the silver medal position. And Jim Roche raced well in his first Essex Vets Champs by finishing 8th after making an aggressive opening statement and then digging in. Steve Lambert, in his final year in this category, did well to finish 40th in the field of 76 finishers.

A big thank you to those members who helped to host the event successfully on the club's and Essex's behalf!