Clanfield Cross Country Relays, 16th March 2008

Report by Denise...

How I sold the Clanfield X-Country Relay:” It’s a flat off road course of about 5k and would be a good opportunity for newer runners to experience x- country.  It’s in March, lambs will be gambolling in the field, daffodils will be out, bending gently in the breeze as the spring sun shines down upon us and warms our backs.  It’ll be great! “ 

16^th March 2008: There had been heavy rain the night before, the wind was howling a gale, the fields were flooded, the mud was deep, the sun was hidden by the grey clouds and it was bl**dy freezing...a baptism of fire for our newbies!

20 Eynsham road runners huddled in the X-Country tent for warmth beating the “number of people in the tent at one time” record and which held steady in the strong winds unlike the organisers “Mash” tent which blew away along with their official paperwork.

The first runners lined up at the start and the rest of us peeked out from the tent door and wished them luck before retreating back into the relative warmth, the gun went off and they stampeded towards the first of many puddles at the end of the field. 

The course was wet, streams had burst their banks and the first half was run through ankle deep water.    We ran along sides of very muddy fields and through more water before reaching the run-in at the finish that had a puddle deeper than anyone suspected and caused much amusement as practically all of us attacked it and ended up doing a “Frank Spencer on roller skates” manoeuvre to prevent us from falling at the last hurdle.

Hero of the day has to be Anthony PJ who was last to start and last to finish but battled valiantly to the end and was greeted by the rest of us with the biggest cheer, thankful that we could now get out of the cold.

So how did we do?  Our Men’s A team came 3^rd behind Witney and Woodstock and our Ladies A team came 2^nd behind Woodstock.  Despite the conditions, everyone completed the course in good time, came back exhilarated and seemed to enjoy it. 

So a big thank you to everyone who turned up on a less than nice day and took part in what turned out to be a tough course in challenging conditions.   Congratulations to Hannah, Elaine, Xanthe and Nik who were running x-country for the first time and who most probably won’t get involved with any of my hair-brained schemes in the future, though they all had big smiles on their faces at the end so...maybe they’ll come back!

Denise

Teams:

Eynsham Men’s A: Tony Whitlock, Rick from Witney (guest), Graham Bridges, Daffyd Warburton

Eynsham Men’s B: Derek Breaker, Nick Sheard, Paul Creasey, Martin Johnson

Eynsham Mixed: Nik Roberts, Linda Breaker, Jane Larbalestier, Anthony Parry-Jones

Eynsham Ladies A: Lesley Parry-Jones, Denise Bridges, Katherine Bates

Eynsham Ladies B: Marie Rout, Elaine Butler, Jan Kavanagh

Eynsham Ladies C: Hannah Frenken, Xanthe Sturt-Taylor, Hildy Frenken

Full results can be found here