Oxfordshire Cross Country League: Race 3 Horspath, Oxford (including the Oxfordshire County Cross Country Championships)

Sunday January 10th 2016

Well Sunday’s XC was quite something to behold. The muddiest, calf-sapping, bilge-watered slipsliding slogfest of slurrydom since I joined Eynsham back in ‘10. But, of course, the several ‘Grandees’ who graced us with their 100-odd years of Oxford Mail XC League experience, may well harbour tales of greater XC challenges past! My calves still beg to differ, in their aching.

But, in fact, despite the bogsoggy underfoot terrain, there was lots to cheer as the sun made an unexpectedly early appearance to warm us all up to a comparatively balmy 6 degrees or so. And there were also plenty of cheers for each other as a healthy ERR contingent took on the mighty long and winding Shotover Hill (twice for some of us), a daring leap across stream and ditch, many many muddy, sodden fields and the joy of having a downhill or flat last mile, for once!

It was a real pleasure to be joined by the four debutants: Marguerite Darius, Kiri Weller, Kerry Lock and Nick Maynard to their first ERR XC races. Good for you for taking the leap. Also it was good to welcome back to the fold the Sonleys: Beth and Pete, who both distinguished themselves.

There were several noteworthy individual performances, but the highlight undoubtedly being the presence of a new-look Women’s A team, with Beth (17th) and Kerry Lock (43rd), joining running ace Hannah Hale (8th) to leap up the table and finish first on the day in Division 2, and 4th overall, beating even the mighty Oxford City. Hurrah! Congratulations are due, and long may their endeavours continue. Well-deserved county medals for 3rd in their respective categories also went to Women’s Captain, Jackie Pinnock and to Hannah.

Having trawled through all the XC results since 2006, for those stats geeks, you may now delight in some of the Women’s teams’ achievements below:

  • Three debuts: well done Ladies! Especially in that quagmire.
  • Bronze Medals for Hannah Hale (3rd SL) and Jackie Pinnock (3rd VL55)
  • Best ever placing: 4th overall
  • Highest ever placing in Division 2: top on the day
  • Best score of any Division 2 team at any race this season
  • The A team is now 4th in Division 2 for the season: highest ever cumulative season position
  • Score of 68 pts is better than 13 of Division 1 teams’ 24 scores so far this season
  • Second best ever Eynsham A team score (68) (Best of 65 at Ascott Nov. 2013)
  • Probably the best ever performance, given it was in the County Championships, so the opposition was likely to be of a higher calibre than Ascott Nov. ’13.
  • Beat Oxford City A (72), Alchester A (78) and Witney A (114) on the day
  • 14 runners competed on the day (third highest number … 17 is the Women’s record)
  • One of the 5 best performances from the B team (based on points scored, weighted against number of runners in the race)
  • 3rd best ever C team score (weighted, as above)

All in all, it was a good day. So, let’s hope that this inspires both the Women and the Men to push onwards and up(hill)wards.

The Men again fielded a very strong B team, packed with talent, demonstrating continued commitment to the series, which is laudable and meaningful. Pete Sonley had a very strong run to complete the A team, and Arthur McEwan-James finished very well, closing in on an A team place. The competition remains healthy.

The A team had quite a battle up nearish the top end of the race, with Henry Hart storming home first for the club (26th), closely followed by the Captain (29th) and Mark Baker (33rd). Each of these three has now led the team home in one race this season, and it was good to see such mutual support and words of encouragement between them, both during the race and afterwards. Signs of a good team ethic.

The As are very reliant on the solid commitment of Dafydd Warburton and Dave Ferrier, and Chairman Graham Bridges who showed signs of coming back into form as 5th ERR man home. Overall the Men have proved to be quite consistent over the season, and are currently sitting in 7th place in Division 1 after three races, but with some keen Division 2 teams eyeing promotion. So, here’s a call-out to all A and B team runners to block out your diaries now, for Feb 7th and Mar 6th, and commit to your training, so we can lay down two end-of-season markers.

It’s time to build on all our hard work and commitment of these last three years, and as I always say, a strong B team makes a strong A team, and vice versa.

THE ERR XC HANDICAP SCORES WILL BE ISSUED THIS WEEK TOO, SO YOU CAN SEE WHERE YOU ARE IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS

Thanks also to the cake providers, Jackie for sorting out the numbers, and anyone not specifically mentioned by name above, but know that you do all count and are very much part of the day.

Finally, a big thank you to John and Alexander Bishop for setting up the tent. I hear that Alexander had a good run too, which bodes well for the future.

 

RESULTS

U9 Girls and Boys (36 finishers)
Position Name
26 Arthur Walker

 

U11 Boys (54 finishers)
Position Name
22 Alexander Bishop

 

U20/Senior/Veteran Women (c. 4.1 miles) (174 finishers)
Position Name Time Notable Team
8 Hannah Hale 29:17 3rd Oxon SL; Bronze Medal A (68 pts)

 

17 Beth Sonley 31:08 6th Oxon SL A
43 Kerry Lock 33:38 Debut A
70 Tess Evans 35:37 B (256)
83 Jackie Pinnock 36:49 3rd Oxon V55;

Bronze Medal

B
103 Cecilia Dahlsjo 38:28 B
106 Kate Williamson 38:50 4th Oxon V55+ C (336)
113 Jane Garton 39:41 C
117 Rain Newton-Smith 40:17 C
127 Anna Mackin 40:55 D (408)
139 Kate Welsby 43:20 D
142 Jane Whitlock 43:31 D
169 Marguerite Darius 51:47 Debut E (514)
170 Kiri Weller 51:59 Debut E

 

 

Under 20/Senior and Veteran Men (c. 5.5 miles) (294 finishers)
Position Name Time Notable Team
26 Henry Hart 36:47 4th Oxon U20 A (524 pts)
29 Benedict Pollard 37:08 5th Oxon VM40 A
33 Mark Baker 37:19 A
91 Dafydd Warburton 41:02 A
103 Graham Bridges 41:39 A
111 Dave Ferrier 42:11 A
131 Pete Sonley 43:28 A
155 Arthur McEwan-James 44:09 B (1198)
156 Ewan MacDonald 44:12 B
160 Lee Hillsdon 44:21 B
164 Tom Baker 44:31 B
167 Tom Binnie 44:38 B
196 Nick Hardwick 46:34 B
200 Mark Schofield 46:56 B
205 Mark Creasey 47:12 4th Oxon VM60 C (1781)
228 Nick Maynard 48:35 Debut C
251 Tony Whitlock 51:05 C
257 Alastair Graham 52:25 C
265 Colin Hancox 54:00 C
280 Keith Baker 59:11 C

 

Note: it was thought helpful to make a note of some of the other positions outside of the podium places too, as a guide to potential selection for inter-counties events, at U20/S/V levels.

The next Oxfordshire XC race is round 4 at the scenic Cirencester Park on February 7th and the final race at Harwell on March 6th. Please do make the effort to join in, and remember that the Cirencester XC is also in both the Long and Short Leagues of the 2016 Eynsham Club Championship.

BP

Athletes