Essex CC Relays, Senior Men
On Saturday a small Woodford gathering descended on Hockley to take part in the Essex CC relays. A race that due to the earliness in the season and other commitments meant that we've not taken part as a club in recent years. But the efforts of Joe Everitt, a local training group by Terry McCarthy gaining in popularity, and the enthusiasm showed by the team, meant I felt it was worth having a team out.
On ground as firm as if we were doing the Essex road relay and under blue skies with warm temperatures, everyone was wondering if this was the start of the winter season, and the team looked around to see who else was there. Chelmsford, the Essex CC champions, were present as were the host club Southend. Basildon and Colchester had also sent decent looking teams, and with our team mainly getting into the swing of training, I thought that a top 10 finish would be a good result.
First leg was new winter signing Dan Steel. New recruits are always interesting. En route we remembered one former recruit convincing managing legend Tel McCarthy that he would give the top runners in the Met League a run for their money, for him to then come about 300th in his first (and only) Met for the club! But Dan has great marathon pedigree (2.34), and was a Woodford Junior, so there was never any real doubt of his ability. He had only recently started to train again after injury, and all were interested in how he would go. He managed to pass the first obstacle of keeping focused, despite me offering him more advice then some nuclear technicians probably receive, and it was evident very early on in his leg that he has an excellent racing brain, as he positioned himself where he could progress from, and he did, coming from the mid-teens into 10th place, with the team´s fastest run of the day 16.14. The fact that he looked so at home with some very good runners on his leg says a lot about his talent, as this was his first club race since he was 15!
Second leg was Pete Caton. Football mad Pete has been converted to running by team member Joe Everitt, and as Pete lined up he might have been wondering if his friendship with Joe was a dangerous thing, as Pete was the hare to three teams behind. But Joe (and Tel) had been saying how Pete is ever improving, and that 5k was a good distance for him. This proved to be the case as Pete only let one team go, keeping the other two in his sights. It was also said that no one would finish as fast as Pete and this proved true as he came flying in to try and catch one of the teams who had passed him, and although the lactic at the end meant Pete thought he might be recreating a Pollock on the grass, he had kept the team within sight of the top 10, coming in 13th with 17.30.
Third leg was Louis Clark. Like Dan, Louis is coming back from injury. Unlike Dan, Louis' injury was not caused by hard running and bad luck, but by an opposition player at a works football match looking far more appealing to kick than the ball, but proving to be a bit more sturdy, or the wall behind him was anyway! Louis is a class act though, and even on this early outing with training not fully kicking in, he ran a well paced lap and called on some reserves to drag in some teams and run a 16.30 to get us into 11th place.
Joe Everitt was our anchor leg. He had Chelmsford B team about a minute ahead with some other teams about the same distance. Could he bridge the gap? He set off with purpose, closing on all, but Chelmsford had a man who, although not in the same form as when he came top 50 in the Southern CC, has an excellent pedigree and paced it well so that although Joe closed the gap he could not quite catch him. Thurrock had a good 'un on last leg who overtook three teams including us, so we came 12th with Joe's 16.35 only 15 seconds behind finishing in the top 10.
The team all enjoyed the event, and Joe pointed out that at this time the distance and terrain are excellent preparation for the races to come. It was good to see our Essex rivals and there were a number of things that were very pleasing with the race, which I hope we can build on as the season progresses. It must be noted that the winners Colchester Harriers closed 5 teams, 3 inside the top 8, and they and Chelmsford could be stiff opposition at the Essex CC champs, and it would be great to see Colchester at the 12 stage. They clearly have the ability and numbers!
Ed Messer