ATW Met CC League: Seniors

Our men's team were 3rd in the fourth ATW Metropolitan Cross Country League race of the season on Saturday, while our women's performance was unusually under-par. Pete Matthews and debutant Jenny O'Sullivan led us home in the two races.

Our 5th man in was Bertie Powell in 34th. This was Bertie's 50th consecutive Met League in our scoring 12. Many of those times we have been the winning team, and Bob Smith before the start mentioned that he thought that Bertie had never been below 61^st! Everyone who ran yesterday will understand the magnitude of the feat and the effort and commitment shown by Bertie through 10 years brimming with consistency and talent.

Photos of Men's race (by Alex Wardle)

It might have been the new year but the ATW Met League season was just over half way as we gathered on Sat 11^th January at a muddy Perivale for fixturenumber four. Bright skies were overhead and the mood in the camp was buoyant as the team eyed up trying to get back into the top three and attain season high finishing positions.

A fast start was necessitated by the course quickly narrowing down which suited our first man in, Pete Matthews. He had looked to learn from last year and how the mud made a fast start essential, as to make ground up was difficult due to the conditions underfoot, as increasing speed in places just meant the feet slipping more! Pete is only just back into racing after a difficult winter of injuries, but continued to show the form that has won him a North of England vest next weekend, coming in 9th place. In next was Tom Phillips. A track man at heart, Tom has a very good ability to get himself to a very good level in the winter and recent reports on how well his training had been going were shown to be accurate as he started fast and held on well to get 23rd place. In next was Martyn Cryer in 28th. Martyn is at the moment doing some heavy mileage training and was a bit bemused again to not run as he would have liked on this
course. But he was well down on lap one and was charging through the field as fast as anyone on laps two and three, which indicates thatm although this result may have not been what he expected, this manager looks forward to seeing how Martyn goes in two weekends at the Southerns, on a course that he ran very well on last year. James Stockings was our next man in. He has nearly got through a winter of his work placement in the City and is looking forward to a summer travelling, but he kept his mind on the job at hand to get a season best finish in 30th place, and coming in as first U20 was good timing with all the big U20 races coming up.

As stated above our 5th man in was Bertie Powell in 34th. In next was another Woodford bedrock, Kevin Murphy in 44th. Kevin had a good run, starting steady and then making his way through the field, until he caught up and got just ahead of our 7th man Angus Holford in 45th. Angus is just back from America, so it was pleasing to see him and that he ran as well as he did. Our eighth runner was Donatas Tumaitis, he was just ahead of Kev last week in the Essex champs, but was suffering from a sore throat which is usually a sign of not being a 100% so his only losing 30s to Kev to get 60th place was a good run.

Our next two runners were probably the runs of the day for the team. Jim Roche has put the effort in for a long time, but has not had the results that this deserved. However, in recent times he has shown a return to form, but this was his best race so far as he came in 70th. In next was Robbie Cox in 75th. Robbie had a very good summer, and then injury took him out until Christmas. He spoke before the race that training had gone well in the week, and in the first lap was well up on where this manager thought he would be, but any worries that he might have gone off too fast were not founded, as he showed that his training had stepped up, and he ran a strong race throughout. Gareth Cavell was our next man in 86th. Gareth is metronomic in his running, which doesn't always get the attention it deserves, as it takes a good talent to get the best out of himself on nearly every race day. Finishing our team was Darren Southcott in 87th, who is battling back to full training and running after a busy December then illness had massively reduced his training, so to run when not 100%, is always very much appreciated.

Our twelve was finished in 87 for third and above us Serpentine and Highgate incredibly drew on points for joint first. With Shaftesbury struggling to get a full team out, we have got third and, barring a complete capitulation from Highgate and Serpentine (or us!), we should have third for the end league placing.

In first for the b-team was Joe Everitt who, for the first time, broke into the top 100 of the Met, which was just reward for all the effort he has put in, as he came in 91st. Joe beat his training partner Rob Wilbraham to be the first of them under the 100, as Rob came in 102nd. But as Rob was feeling a bit under the weather it means if training can go well he must be eyeing up met league 5 to go under the 100 himself and maybe even into the 80's! In next was CJ Shepherd, whose warmup was not the longest as he turned up 10 minutes before the start of the race! But this didn't seem to affect him, as with new spikes he just missed out on the top 100 himself by coming in 105th. In next was the ever improving Daniel Mann, who has got a club place to do the London Marathon and has stepped up his training for this new goal. Even though not 100% in the week, his run showed training is going well as he came in 111th.

Fifth in was Tom Beedell in 123rd. Tom has had a knee injury and he admitted beforehand that no lactic threshold training had been done, as he prepares himself for a marathon. The fact that he is willing to come and score points for the team while many would just want to be running along hidden paths as they get back to A1 shape, is very much appreciated. Our next man was Alan Rugg in 175th, he was fifth V50 on the day, and as he said to this manager beforehand, he is keen to get 6 months good training behind him and then see where he is, rather then the current 2 months. Then was Julian Russell who must have felt the pressure from this manager to finally prove one of his predictions right. After predictions such as Highgate will not be able to maintain (4 wins from 4), Nick Torry will only do one Met (three and counting) and all teams will be weak at Ally Pally (record field), Julian must have thought this manager disliked him as he predicted that top 200 would happen this season! But Julian has shown improvement all year and although Alan got away from him on lap two, he maintained well to come in 187th. In Eighth was Steve Lambert, who has had injury problems recently, otherwise would have been looking to go into the 100's this year to, but 205th for Steve when not 100%, means if decent training can be done he can eagerly look forward to any race this year.

Our next man was Richard Hogg in 269th, Richard probably didn't think he'd be in our b-team this winter but as it has turned out he has been a very helpful member in there, as he produced another solid run. In next was Paul Stockings in 294th. Paul has been laid low with injuries recently, with his recent catch phrase being ‘I'll start and we'll see’, which unfortunately has meant him not finishing all races this season, so it was pleasing this time to see Paul sweep past for the third lap and finish. In next was Tom Spanyol in 320th who is getting back into training for yet another marathon, after completing the Loch Ness Marathon in September last year! Then came Trevor Powell, this time leaving C team captain duties for Stuart Phillips by coming in 350th for twelfth scoring man, with Stuart coming in 364th. Stuart was carrying an injury which meant he was restricted to the speed he could go, but as always, added tremendously to the team spirit.

The day was one where the team spirit was exemplified by the effort shown by all to honour a great club man Bertie Powell, as after running in muddy and cold conditions with mixed fortunes, to be asked to stand around in a photo after isn't always easy, even Bertie didn't want to be in it! But the sight of the team swarming up the hill en masse to catch Bertie and get the photo was a great scene and the photo encapsulates the excellent team spirit. Special thanks must go to Alex Wardle for taking the photos; Barry Ewell and Roy Williams who brought the tent and set it up and took it down in such a remote and muddy place, Charlie Crump who stayed about at the end and helped carry stuff back to the coach and Terry McCarthy for doing the finishing funnel at the end. Up next is the southern and then I hope we can finish well at Wormwood Scrubs.