Oxfordshire Cross Country League: Race 1 Newbury Showground. Match Report and Results
Introduction
Sunday November 6th brought to us Race 1 of the 2016/2017 Oxfordshire Cross Country League, and a Club Record turnout of 43 Seniors /Veterans, enjoying a day of fine running across a relatively flat and dry Newbury course, on a crisp, windy, brightly wintryish morning. The previous highest attendance (39) from the club was three years ago at Ascott-under-Wychwood. Some may recall that it was as recently as the 2008/2009 season that in three of the five races the Men’s squad only managed to field seven runners per race, whilst the season before at Horspath we only had six, which is not even enough for a full team.
What a transformation that we are all building … let’s enjoy keeping the momentum going, in the Women’s, Men’s and Junior sections, and enjoy the running too.
Cakes, cars and our travelling fan-base
It was great to see plenty of car-sharing for our voyage South down the A34, and to have some non-running supporters in Kate Welsby (who also drove a full complement of runners, and provided cakes!), Caroline Ogden (whose presence meant David Summers could take part) and Diane Creasey making up a fine group of fans. Diane was one of a Creasey quartet (Luke, Mark and Paul all competed: Luke fresh from a Saturday night appearance on BBC 1’s Football Focus !) alongside a trio of Bakers (Keith, Mark and Tom) – who must be setting some sort of combined committed attendance record over these last few years.
Inauguration of the Men’s D Team
The good thing about having such a high turnout is not only that the top end of the competition tends to go well, but so do the middle teams (B and C), with mini-competitions and friendly rivalries developing amongst groups of ERR runners of similar abilities. Some very good results also appear in unexpected places. For example, we fielded a complete Men’s D team for the first time ever, and their ‘weighted score’ (points scored, divided by number of runners in the race) was better than any previous ERR C team’s efforts. Take a bow Nick Leach, Colin Hancox, Bruce Coppuck, Steve Butler, Howard Humphris, John Bishop and Martin Johnson.
Also, it was genuinely a good feeling to see so many familiar faces together, with all the attending good humour (John Bishop was there!), conversation and support for one another, a hallmark of the camaraderie and friendliness of the club, that is often remarked upon by other running clubs.
Debutants
The record turnout was in part due to us welcoming nine ERR debutants, some of whom were also newcomers to cross country: Rebecca Evins, Liz McAllister, Adam Clilverd, Bruce Coppuck, Jon Cox, Jonathan Hancox, Nick Leach, Daniel Lewis and David Summers. In fact, in the combined Men and Women Seniors/Vets categories only the host club Newbury fielded more entrants, and they didn’t exactly have far to travel!
Juniors
The juniors were well represented by six hearty runners (Jessica Summers, Florence Wetherald, Max Coppuck, Fraser Muir, Reuben Coppuck and Alexander Bishop), with Reuben in particular putting in a notable 18th place in his race. Bruce and Nicola Coppuck helped everything go smoothly, by putting up the tent early on for the junior races, which is a big help to those of us arriving later. Thank you.
Commitment award !
The latest arrival of all was Rain Newton-Smith, who valiantly took on the challenge of driving back north from Newbury Racecourse, which was eerily quiet and devoid of tents and club colours flying in the wind when she got there. She did arrive at the showground with just a few minutes to spare. That’s commitment for you, and at least she was in the right half of the county, unlike a certain Andy Goodwin last December! 🙂
But … Matt Ray actually pips Rain to the prize in the commitment stakes, driving all the way from Birmingham for the race, and posting a very respectable 88th place, and fourth Under 20 on the day, to boot. Surely he’ll be eyeing up a medal in that competition come season-end?
Congrats to all
So, well done everyone, all of you, even if you don’t get a specific mention this time round. Above all, I trust you enjoyed the day.
I heard lots of positive words about the course itself, and the day as a whole, and genuine remarks of amazement at the sea of ‘Blue and White’ that was indeed very much on display.
Right … on with the results and a little analysis
Notable running achievements
Club Record
Senior/Veteran attendance: 43 runners (previous best 39) – keep it up !
Women’s achievements
- Hannah Hale looked very strong in cementing a fine 3rd place, and 3rd SL
- Liz McAllister a brilliant 7th place on her XC debut, oh and in spikes for the first time too! Also 3rd V35
- Katherine Bates 3rd V55
- The A team (54 pts) powered home to their best ever score and weighted performance, completed with a strong run from Kerry Lock (44th)
- The A team in fourth place overall on the day, for just the second time, and second in Div. 2
- The B team of Anna Mackin (61), Tess Evans (64), Katherine Bates (82) and C team of Rebecca Evins (97), Jacky Pinnock (105) and Tara Lawfull (119) – second best ever weighted scores (see table below for some rough and ready stats)
Summary of Women’s Team performances, as measured by the ‘weighted score’ or ratio
Note: the lower the weighted score (points scored divided by runners in the field), the better the performance. It’s a rough way of comparing performances within the club across fixtures and within and across years. It doesn’t take into account the quality/ability of the field, but generally speaking it does give us a reasonable assessment of relative performance.
| TEAM | BEST
RATIO |
Pts | Runners | Venue | Date | 2nd BEST RATIO | Pts | Runners | Venue | Date |
| A | 0.31 | 54 | 173 | Newbury | 2016 | 0.34 | 65 | 190 | Ascott | 2015 |
| B | 1.13 | 214 | 190 | Ascott | 2013 | 1.20 | 207 | 173 | Newbury | 2016 |
| C | 1.85 | 331 | 179 | Ascott | 2014 | 1.86 | 321 | 173 | Newbury | 2016 |
Men’s achievements
- 30 Men competed – EIGHT more than our previous highest, and 24 more than the low point in 2007. Fantastic
- It was the first time ERR have ever fielded a complete fourth team of runners
- The A team posted their lowest score ever (311 pts) (remember it’s the lowest scores that win). Strong performances by all, notably Graham Bridges (4th V50) after a solid summer’s training, but the excellent team achievement was strongly founded on two superb finishes by new club members:
- Dan Lewis (10th) – the highest individual ERR XC placing for many years … I think it may be time for me to delve into the archives … I seem to recall an occasional individual race victory and other ERR top 5 finishes in the 1990s/early 2000s … watch this space
- Jon Cox (17th) in his first ever XC race! Bodes well for the rest of the season
- The A Team (311) finished top of Division 2 on the day, 101 points clear of Witney in second place (412), but more significantly ahead on points of all of Abingdon AC (341), Alchester (390), Swindon Harriers (403), Oxford City (571) and White Horse Harriers (693), who are all in Division 1
- ALL THE MEN’S TEAMS ACHIEVED BEST EVER PERFORMANCES (see table below), including some really good B team runs, notably from Pete Green and Nick Hardwick
Summary of Men’s Team performances, as measured by the ‘weighted score’ or ratio
| TEAM | BEST
RATIO |
Points | Runners | Venue | Date | 2nd BEST RATIO | Points | Runners | Venue | Date |
| A | 0.99 | 311 | 315 | Newbury | 2016 | 1.45 | 317 | 219 | Harwell | 2015 |
| B | 3.26 | 1027 | 3.83 | 1122 | 293 | Ascott | 2014 | |||
| C | 4.86 | 1530 | 6.13 | 1686 | 275 | Culham | 2015 | |||
| D | 6.04 | 1902 | Never before had a complete D Team of 7 runners | |||||||
Worked example: The D team’s effort was 1902 pts, divided by 315 runners; which gives a pts/runners weighted score or ratio of 6.04. The previous best ever Eynsham C Team ratio was 6.13 (1686 pts in a field of 275) and in fact the 6.04 score was also considerably better than two B team scores as recently as the 2010/11 season.
Conclusion
So, it’s all looking positive.
I’ll remind you though, lest you become complacent in your festive slippers, that it’s all about turning up consistently! So, we’ll look forward to seeing many of you at Adderbury on Sunday December 4th for the second race in the Oxfordshire XC League.
Detailed Results
U11 Girls (56 finishers) |
||
Position |
Name |
Time |
| 53 | Jessica Summers | 10:29 |
| 55 | Florence Wetherald | 10:42 |
U11 Boys (53 finishers) |
||
Position |
Name |
Time |
| 38 | Max Coppuck | 7:41 |
| 48 | Fraser Muir | 8:13 |
U13 Boys (52 finishers) |
||
Position |
Name |
Time |
| 18 | Reuben Coppuck | 9:52 |
| 42 | Alexander Bishop | 10:52 |
U20, Senior/Veteran Women (c. 4.1 miles) (173 finishers) |
||||
Position |
Name |
Time |
Notable |
Team (points) |
| 3 | Hannah Hale | 25:21 | 3rd SL | A (54) |
| 7 | Liz McAllister | 26:58 | 3rd V35; debut | A |
| 44 | Kerry Lock | 29:56 | A | |
| 61 | Anna Mackin | 31:18 | B (207) | |
| 64 | Tess Evans | 31:26 | B | |
| 82 | Katherine Bates | 32:11 | 3rd V55 | B |
| 97 | Rebecca Evins | 33:12 | Debut | C (321) |
| 105 | Jacky Pinnock | 33:47 | C | |
| 119 | Tara Lawfull | 34:45 | C | |
| 126 | Jane Garton | 35:15 | D (384) | |
| 128 | Cecilia Dahlsjo | 35:32 | D | |
| 130 | Rain Newton-Smith | 35:37 | D | |
| 150 | Nicola Coppuck | 37:39 | E | |
Under 20, Senior and Veteran Men (c. 5.65 miles) (315 finishers) |
||||
Position |
Name |
Time |
Notable |
Team (points) |
| 10 | Daniel Lewis | 32:56 | Debut | A (311) |
| 17 | Jon Cox | 33:36 | Debut | A |
| 25 | Benedict Pollard | 33:53 | A | |
| 36 | Mark Baker | 34:26 | A | |
| 65 | Dafydd Warburton | 35:57 | A | |
| 73 | Graham Bridges | 36:06 | 4th V50 | A |
| 85 | Dave Ferrier | 36:42 | A | |
| 88 | Matt Ray | 36:47 | 4th U20 | B (1027) |
| 113 | Peter Green | 37:49 | B | |
| 146 | Nick Hardwick | 38:54 | B | |
| 150 | Arthur McEwan-James | 39:00 | B | |
| 171 | David Summers | 39:57 | Debut | B |
| 178 | Jonathan Hancox | 40:04 | Debut | B |
| 181 | Ewan MacDonald | 40:09 | B | |
| 191 | Tristan Hale | 40:25 | C (1530) | |
| 194 | Luke Creasey | 40:40 | C | |
| 208 | Mark Creasey | 41:22 | C | |
| 215 | Adam Clilverd | 41:38 | Debut | C |
| 235 | Justin Byworth | 42:30 | C | |
| 243 | Alastair Graham | 43:03 | C | |
| 244 | Tom Baker | 43:05 | C | |
| 253 | Nick Leach | 43:49 | Debut | D (1902) |
| 256 | Colin Hancox | 43:56 | D | |
| 259 | Bruce Coppuck | 44:07 | Debut | D |
| 274 | Steve Butler | 45:29 | D | |
| 281 | Howard Humphris | 46:17 | D | |
| 288 | John Bishop | 47:02 | D | |
| 291 | Martin Johnson | 47:22 | D | |
| 297 | Keith Baker | 49:02 | E | |
| 309 | Paul Creasey | 52:39 | E | |
ERR XC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP SCORES
The first round scores of the Club XC Championship have been calculated and will be issued separately shortly. At first glance they look really exciting, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the order of the leaderboard … hint: I am not anywhere near the top!
Benedict Pollard
Men’s XC Captain
Nov. 8th 2016
(P.S. as always, I do try to accurately report the day, but please let me know of any obvious omissions/oversights)
Final note:
Unfortunately there appears to have been a theft of valuables from a club member’s bag at some point during the race, which of course left a sour note on proceedings. Whilst this is hoped to be an isolated incident, the committee suggests that in future you each consider leaving your valuables in your car and just bring a little cash to the tent for refreshments. You may also wish to consider running with your car key in a pocket. You can always remove it from the bundle, but be careful also not to lose it! Also, we suggest that you ensure your bags are left inside the tent, and that the tent is clearly zipped up, if it is ever temporarily left unattended.
Thank you in advance for your vigilance.
