Men 22nd at National CC Relays
On Saturday 1st November, with weather and temperatures that were ideal to run in, and ground so firm it made the CC relays feel more like a road race, a small group of Woodford men gathered in Mansfield to compete in the National CC relays.
On first leg was Birmingham Uni man Ed Shepherd. It is a mark of his talent that he asked to be put on first leg in a national competition, and even though only his first year as a senior, there was no doubt that Ed would set the team off well. Ed ran superbly and with his 15.28 came in 19th place, only 37s behind first, which was the fastest leg of the day! If Ed does go to America next year he will be missed, but on such form he can be confident whereever he goes.
Next leg was Ben Whitworth. Ben is returning to the running scene after an injury kept him out last winter and was given the unenviable task of keeping the team in good position without being drawn in by some of the flyers around him. But Ben had said that he was in good shape and with good experience he looked to be the man for the job. He didn't disappoint, coming in 26th place with 17.00 min exactly and keeping the team well placed.
Up next was new recruit Daniel Gurton, also of Birmingham University. Daniel is looking this winter to increase his mileage as his main aim is middle distance on the track. As an Ex-800m runner this manager likes to talk about the training and strategy involved with that event and Daniel took all the questions with good humour while keeping focused on the matter in hand, which was good as the team needed another good run as other teams threatened to go past us. Daniel delivered with a 17.04 leg which put us in 29th place, and showed his winter work was going well.
On anchor leg was our Slovenian international, Tomaz Plibersek. He is busy working on strength and conditioning at the moment with an eye on improving even more in the steeplechase next summer, and his form in races has been impeccable so far. He started off hard to close in quickly on some teams in front and paid for that slightly in the second lap, but the fact his form held together so well meant the time lost was cut to a minimum as he brought the team through to 22nd with a 16.38 run. We finished 2 seconds ahead of Newham and Essex Beagles, which may have surprised Bob Smith, the hard-worked Newham manager, as talking during the race, this manager had said he'd be pleased with a top 50! It could be claimed that it was some Alex Ferguson mind games, but more probably it shows that when it comes to relay predictions this manager is still as accurate as an octopus playing darts.
The team ran very well and 22nd with 1.06.12 was an excellent result, with us finishing as second Met and first Essex club. Highgate Harriers continued their good form by claiming third (1.01.54). This manager had been unsure of Mansfield, with a long journey on a hard worked squad, but thanks to the attitude of our athletes, and seeing how well run and produced the event is, shows that the effort to get there is justified, so next year we hope to produce another excellent result. Many thanks to Sam Benge too, who made the trip up with his university, and helped support the team.