News from South London Harriers
February 9th, 2008: Final Surrey League match men and boys report and results
Posted by Runningclogs at 9:41 pmIt gave me a warm feeling to see Jason Simpson warming up yesterday.
I felt he might be what would make the difference between staying up and being relegated, and I know he isn’t the biggest fan of cross-country and all his running career has been dogged by injury. I also knew that last Thursday we didn’t think Jason would be running, as he had not then replied to emails enquiring about his availability. Therefore, seeing him running towards me was a big relief.
Despite not having raced much in recent months, Jason took on the field and led by two or three metres after a quarter of a mile. He had slipped to second by a mile, and then down to fifth at the end of the first lap. Were things going wrong? No. He was to regain a place and finish a fighting fourth. That made a difference of eighty points to our final score.
I had checked with Richard Carter who had got numbers with the start still 30 minutes away. It was not only a long list, but an impressive one. Tom Jenkins and Matt Chapman, both recently recovered from injury, were racing. They would make a significant difference. And Ray Marriott was there. Now, in twenty years in the Club, I don’t think I’ve known Ray do more than a handful of Surrey Leagues. He’s been there many a time, but race? Again, he would make a difference.
There was another name on the list: Chris Phelan. Chris has said to me on Thursday that he didn’t think he could make it; too many other commitments. Then on Saturday morning, at the Banstead Woods Time Trial, he had said to Richard that because of the confusion arising out of someone dropping the finishers’ discs, he didn’t know if he could make it. He had.
Then there was Lee Morgan. Once a regular, Lee’s appearances over recent years have become more spread out. But there he was, with his wife Nicky running in the women’s race and their baby daughter. Great.
Making a huge dent in the average age calculation was Michael McManus, an extremely welcome junior, (or Under 20 to use the correct title). He had run, largely through circumstances beyond his control in the last race, and here he was again. He would make a difference as well.
Paval was there. Now that helps. He works on Saturdays so can’t make many races. He does not like xc races, as he easily gets injured. Fortunately he was at this one. Another Saturday worker is Francis Staunton, but he had done his day’s work and was raring to go. He would be third home for us.
Add to that some usual suspects, Dave Ogden, Andy Evans, Mark Burtwell (who sadly felt sick during the race and dropped out), Paul Mitchell, Colin Young, Phil Scarles, and others. They are the sort of runner the Club depends on. They will usually be there, and some of them will get in the scoring ten. The sort of packing in the middle order that is essential.
As the team came into the finish, and after we had identified the runner in fifth was not in a green Guildford vest but was a Lancastrian guest!, it all seemed remarkably easy. We were a superb fourth on the day, and moved up to sixth for the season, two places away from the relegation places. Was it ever really a risk? Of course it was!!
And then the realisation came to dawn. We were still without six of are better runners yesterday. Stuart Major hasn’t raced for a year, but would have been well towards the very front. Our best performer in Reigate, Andy Tindall, didn’t make it, whilst Barry Attwell and Glenn Quarton are both thought to be injured. Then there was Dave Baker and Andy Collins, who might well have knocked a few more points off our total.
So after a season when we have felt sorry for ourselves, we produce a fourth place without anything like our strongest line up. Now that is some strength in depth. What could we do? What might we do? Next season? Perhaps even the 12 stage relays in April…..
But, then again, the sport is all about who is there on the day, who is fit and who is available. Next year……..
But of course the really noteworthy fact is that HHH snatched the title from THH in the last match by just 6 points and both had an overall score of less than 750 for the 4 matches!
Despite Belgraves runner being the first finisher in the match they had 500 points = almost half their previous total! Whilst we finished equal to Ranelagh in the match with 437 points. So a great end to an exiting competition…….
So who will be there next year?!
9th February 2008 5.57 miles Richmond Park
SWEATSHOP SURREY CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE DIV.1
SENIORS/JUNIORS/VETS
1 1 28.10 S.Sharp BEL
2 2 28.44 N.Talbot THH
3 3 28.54 K.Quinn HHH
4 4 29.04 J.Simpson V SLH
5 5 29.11 N.Chisholm THH
6 x 29.11 M.Bond (G)
7 6 29.30 K.Newton V HHH
8 7 29.33 I.Lockett V HHH
9 8 29.37 H.Aly Ahmed H/W
10 9 29.43 D.Talbot THH
11 10 29.49 B.Paviour HHH
12 11 29.52 B.Aly H/W
13 12 29.53 T.Jenkins SLH
14 13 29.55 W.Cockerell BEL
15 14 30.01 J.McMullan THH
16 15 30.03 P.Killingley RAN
17 16 30.10 D.Robinson V HHH
18 17 30.13 A.Hogan H/W
19 18 30.15 A.Barnes HHH
20 19 30.18 T.Pearson THH
21 20 30.23 C.Illman RAN
22 21 30.26 R.Karn HHH
23 22 30.27 A.Dunwoody HHH
24 23 30.32 D.Symons THH
25 24 30.37 J.Jarvis HHH
26 25 30.38 D.Fagan HHH
27 26 30.40 S.Wurr THH
28 27 30.44 T.Kingsnorth THH
29 28 30.46 J.Cordwell THH
30 29 30.48 R.Xerri H/W
31 xx 30.51 B.Woodd HHH
32 30 30.53 A.Moses RPR
33 xx 30.54 V.Maughn V HHH
34 31 30.56 F.Staunton SLH
35 xx 30.57 I.Yates HHH
36 32 30.57 C.Daniels THH
37 33 30.58 P.Haarer RAN
38 34 31.03 J.Pyrah G&G
39 35 31.04 J.Webb RAN
40 xx 31.07 J.Woodthorpe THH
41 36 31.09 J.Clewett RPR
42 37 31.09 R.Marriott V SLH
52 45 31.39 P.Bal SLH
56 46 31.46 C.Phelan V SLH
77 60 32.41 M.McManus J SLH
80 63 32.48 M.Chapman SLH
83 66 32.53 D.Ogden V SLH
92 73 33.25 A.Evans V SLH
96 xx 33.43 D.Gillett SLH
102 xx 34.03 P.Scarles V SLH
112 xx 34.39 S.Rosser SLH
120 xx 35.09 N.Lee SLH
121 xx 35.11 P.Mitchell V SLH
137 xx 36.21 L.Morgan SLH
145 xx 37.01 C.Young SLH
146 xx 37.04 A.Morton V SLH
155 xx 38.16 M.Airey V SLH
169 xx 40.26 D.Newland V SLH
180 xx finishers
Final team scores
1 HHH 3 6 7 10 16 18 21 22 24 25 = 152 + 578 = 730
2 THH 2 5 9 14 19 23 26 27 28 32 = 185 + 551 = 736
3 BEL 1 13 40 41 53 55 68 72 76 81 = 500 + 1019 = 1519
4 RAN 15 20 33 35 39 48 54 58 61 74 = 437 + 1122 = 1559
5 H/W 8 11 17 29 38 44 56 70 71 79 = 423 + 1370 = 1793
6 SLH 4 12 31 37 45 46 69 63 66 73 = 437 + 1757 = 2194
7 RPR 30 36 51 57 62 69 75 84 86 87 = 637 + 1698 = 2335
8 GandG 34 43 47 49 50 52 64 67 77 80 = 563 + 1872 = 2435
9 W/W 42 59 65 78 82 83 85 88 89 90 = 761 + 2318 = 3079
UNDER 17 and UNDER 15 BOYS 2.84m
1 16.08 A.Robinson U17 H/W
2 16.1611 18.59 B.Mustoe U15 H/W12 19.33 J.Langley U15 HHH13 19.36 P.Stables U15 H/W14 19.49 D.Sidwell U15 SLHFinal team scores1 H/W 1 2 3 11 13 = 32 + 77 = 1092 SLH 6 9 14 30 30 = 89 +129 = 2183 HHH 3 4 7 8 12 = 34 + 219 = 2534 G&G = 538.55 RAN 10 30 30 30 30 = 130 + 422 = 552UNDER 13 BOYS 2.84m1 17.58 D.Wynes-Devlin HHH2 18.04 A.Breem G&G3 18.25 T.Ball HHH4 18.48 L.Hussey HHH5 18.58 D.Wallis G&G6 19.02 B.Foreman SLH7 20.24 G.Collett G&G8 21.22 T.Holden SLH9 22.32 T.McCahon H/W10 23.44 P.McCahon H/WFinal team scores1 G&G 2 5 7 28 28 = 70 + 129 = 1992 HHH 1 3 4 28 28 = 64 + 169 = 2333 H/W 9 10 28 28 28 = 103 + 331 = 4344 SLH 6 8 28 28 28 = 98 + 383.5 = 481.5G.Logan U15 H/W
3 16.29 S.Woods U15 HHH
4 17.04 C.Luscombe U17 HHH
5 17.14 C.Carrington U17 H/W
6 17.45 B.McDaniel U17 SLH
7 17.51 D.Willmott U15 HHH
8 17.57 B.Holmes U15 HHH
9 18.08 G.Campbell U15 SLH
10 18.19 G.Inman U17 RAN
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