We woke up to that "White stuff" coming down from the heavens - but on closer inspection it appeared was melting on the roads. So the Surrey County Championships ought to be ok. However, despite there still being some snow on the ground in some places, the problem on the course in Lloyd's Park Croydon was that it was only just above freezing though with very little wind, unlike last year when everybody was almost blown away. Eventually even the sun came out during the men's race. But why should they be specially cheered up?
I have been told by a very reliable source that some years ago there was about a foot of snow on the course! So all runners stuck to the same little trench created by the front runner! . . . until I got trampled down to much and it started to get icey and slippery . . . So were we lucky, I am not sure it was mud, mud and more mud with very little relief from it. Always looking where to put your feet, well I did. When the fast runners lapped me, especially the winner they appeared to be totally oblivious of the mud and seemed to stride through as if it was good hard paving? . . . if only I could make such strides . . .
But our supporters along the lines were very effective and supportive. As David Baker said "what fantastic support we had at Lloyd Park today. On every part of the course there was someone cheering us on and it was really appreciated". To which I can add that after the third time less than a mile from the start I was cheered on, one of the runners just in front of me, turned round and said: "How many supporters have you brought along?" . . . Thanks to all those supporters who braved the cold.
It was a good day for the ladies winning the second team prize.
Like in the South of Thames race just before Christmas Emily Bright finished first for SLH in seventh position and is proving to be very great asset. She was followed by Nicky McGarry in twelfth position. It appears that there was a battle between Ruth and Christina. When I saw them during the first lap Christina was well ahead of Ruth, but as a different reporter suggested: "Ruth had a storming last lap, having been behind Christina for most of the race. But, the old (can I call her that, it is comparative) fox used her experience and strength to close down her team mate and beat her by 8 seconds.
These four were our scoring team for the silver medals.
What is so pleasing to see the depth of the other runners all at minute and half minute intervals finishing. But a special mention needs to be given to our new "mum" of three weeks running her first race. Unlike most other people arriving she said: "It was great to be out there, it was very good!" She was certainly very good, beating me by no less than seven minutes (and I had another lap to go). Well done Pippa. But with the race over the "proud mother" then delighted everybody in showing of Samuel, who was blissfully asleep.
| 1 | - | 872 | Genevieve Gardner | Guildford & Godalming | 33.09 |
| 7 | 4 | 796 | Emily Bright | South London Harriers | 34.29 |
| 12 | 7 | 802 | Nicky McGarry | South London Harriers | 35.12 |
| 21 | 14 | 798 | Ruth Hutton | South London Harriers | 36.42 |
| 23 | 15 | 804 | Christina Meyer | South London Harriers | 36.50 |
| 27 | 16 | 805 | Viv Mitchell | South London Harriers | 37.30 |
| 31 | 18 | 807 | Clare Settle | South London Harriers | 38.17 |
| 34 | 21 | 801 | Sue McDonald | South London Harriers | 38.42 |
| 39 | 24 | 810 | Lisa Thompson | South London Harriers | 39.32 |
| 45 | - | 889 | Pippa Major | South London Harriers | 40.27 |
| 48 | - | 809 | Kathy Southall | South London Harriers | 40.35 |
| 62 | - | 808 | Zoe Simek | South London Harriers | 43.17 |
| 67 | - | 799 | Pam Iannella | South London Harriers | 44.50 |
| 74 | - | 800 | Marketa Martins | South London Harriers | 48.52 |
| 1 | Herne Hill Harriers | 61 | (3, 7, 8, 11, 15, 17) |
| 2 | Thames Hare & Hounds | 125 | (1, 10, 13, 19, 23, 59) |
| 3 | South London Harriers | 142 | (4, 12, 26, 27, 35, 38) |
| 4 | Hercules Wimbledon | 191 | (16, 20, 31, 32, 39, 53) |
| 5 | Walton AC | 256 | (6, 21, 36, 44, 68, 81) |
| 6 | Ranelagh Harriers | 260 | (5, 34, 43, 55, 57, 66) |
| 7 | Belgrave Harriers | 299 | (2, 9, 22, 48, 107, 111) |
| 8 | Dorking & Mole V | 312 | (18, 29, 40, 46, 87, 92) |
| 9 | The Stragglers AC | 388 | (24, 33, 47, 86, 90, 108) |
| 10 | Dulwich Runners | 396 | (30, 37, 72, 78, 83, 96) |
| 11 | Sutton Runners | 440 | (52, 63, 65, 82, 84, 94) |
| 12 | Epsom & Ewell Harriers | 540 | (14, 69, 95, 110, 116, 136) |
| 13 | Wimbledon Windmilers | 543 | (58, 77, 79, 88, 119, 122) |
| 14 | 26.2 RRC | 567 | (75, 76, 93, 97, 106, 120) |
| 15 | Reigate Priory AC | 593 | (51, 80, 91, 117, 125, 129) |
| 16 | Striders of Croydon | 621 | (56, 70, 99, 131, 132, 133) |
| 17 | Croydon Harriers | 628 | (62, 74, 112, 114, 128, 138) |
| 18 | Elmbridge Runners | 654 | (64, 101, 105, 109, 126, 149) |
There were also bronze medals for the SLH under 13 team of
| 1 | 1 | 513 | Emelia Gorecka | Dorking & Mole V | 12.55 |
| 5 | 4 | 559 | Fredericka Foster | South London Harriers | 13.34 |
| 11 | 8 | 558 | Helen Wilson | South London Harriers | 14.15 |
| 16 | 12 | 556 | Harriet Field | South London Harriers | 14.32 |
| 40 | 28 | 557 | Hannah Field | South London Harriers | 16.03 |
| 1 | Aldershot Farnham & District | 22 | (2, 3, 7, 10) |
| 2 | Dorking & Mole V | 42 | (1, 6, 14, 21) |
| 3 | South London Harriers | 52 | (4, 8, 12, 28) |
| 4 | Guildford & Godalming | 61 | (5, 15, 19, 22) |
| 5 | Sutton & District AC | 72 | (13, 16, 17, 26) |
| 6 | Herne Hill Harriers | 90 | (11, 18, 29, 32) |
| 7 | Kingston AC & Poly Harriers | 96 | (9, 20, 27, 40) |
| 8 | Camberley & District | 114 | (23, 25, 30, 36) |
The senior men came out in force with twenty two runners.
The start was rather sudden as some of the runners were not quite in position and then seemed very fast. I was well behind by the summit of the first hill. The second lap seemed the most challenging. I had hoped to equal my South of Thames result with only four runners lapping me, but as I thought the going was very tough it was more than evident that this time my time was going to be slower and hence more people lapping me.
John MacFarlane, the South of Thames winner as well, past me at about a mile from the finish, followed by Robbie James in second position at that point with Kojo Kyereme at his heals. I understand that Kojo has joint SLH after the race!
Stuart finished seventh and Jason thirteenth.
Jason had reported before the race that "he's stressing that he's in no shape to do well but you know that's what they all say. I can vouch for the fact that he's been unwell recently though." As another correspondent said: Clearly Jason was in no shape. He's 38, hardly first flush, yet in a large field of over 150 (I estimate) he finished 13the, and would have been higher if he 'could have been bothered' (his words) to chase down to two in front towards the end. Wish I had his unfitness!!! Or unshapelyness!!!! Or recent illness!!!!! I think we all do . . . . . .
As our two front runners were not entered as scorers they did not count for the team's prize. Nevertheless as with the ladies the depth of the team was shown by still getting the third prize. A great run.
| 1 | 1 | 263 | John MacFarlane | Thames Hare & Hounds | 41.41 |
| 2 | - | 335 | Kojo Kyereme | Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers | 42.14 |
| 3 | - | 360 | Robbie James | South London Harriers | 42.23 |
| 7 | 4 | 204 | Stuart Major | South London Harriers | 43.00 |
| 13 | - | 361 | Jason Simpson | South London Harriers | 44.07 |
| 18 | 12 | 202 | Tom Jenkins | South London Harriers | 44.53 |
| 40 | 26 | 213 | Chris Phelan | South London Harriers | 47.15 |
| 42 | 27 | 189 | Barry Attwell | South London Harriers | 47.30 |
| 51 | 35 | 190 | Dave Baker | South London Harriers | 48.58 |
| 54 | 38 | 206 | Paul Mitchell | South London Harriers | 49.11 |
| 58 | 41 | 192 | Andy Collins | South London Harriers | 49.20 |
| 59 | 42 | 199 | Karl Harvey | South London Harriers | 49.21 |
| 66 | 49 | 211 | Dave Ogden | South London Harriers | 49.50 |
| 67 | 50 | 188 | Andrew Aitken | South London Harriers | 50.02 |
| 71 | 54 | 191 | Mark Burtwell | South London Harriers | 50.10 |
| 77 | 60 | 220 | Martin Wood | South London Harriers | 50.37 |
| 80 | - | 205 | Antonio Martins | South London Harriers | 50.56 |
| 94 | - | 210 | Sean Newland | South London Harriers | 51.38 |
| 114 | - | 196 | Clive Edgington | South London Harriers | 53.48 |
| 142 | - | 203 | Ken Lee | South London Harriers | 56.33 |
| 155 | - | 200 | Darren Hockaday | South London Harriers | 57.22 |
| 171 | - | 195 | Rob Crozier | South London Harriers | 59.44 |
| 193 | - | 187 | Chris Holmes | South London Harriers | 66.42 |
| 199 | - | 219 | Jake Clausen | South London Harriers | 69.48 |
In the junior races SLH did well too where in the under 17 we obtained
1st individual & team prize!
| 1 | 1 | 443 | Daniel Altendorf | South London Harriers | 23.21 |
| 5 | 3 | 447 | Nick Farrell | South London Harriers | 24.20 |
| 7 | 4 | 444 | Peter Humphrey | South London Harriers | 25.04 |
| 12 | 6 | 445 | Lee Humphreys | South London Harriers | 25.53 |
| 1 | South London Harriers | 8 | (1, 3, 4) |
| 2 | Charterhouse School | 22 | (2, 5, 15) |
| 3 | Croydon Harriers | 33 | (7, 8, 18) |
| 4 | Oxted County School | 34 | (10, 11, 13) |
| 5 | Tiffin School | 35 | (9, 12, 14) |
Here SLH achieved 3rd team prize
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Elliot Woolmer | Aldershot Farnham & District | 12.00 |
| 12 | 11 | 82 | Samuel Honey | South London Harriers | 12.55 |
| 32 | 22 | 84 | Thomas Marsh | South London Harriers | 13.58 |
| 36 | 25 | 83 | Adam Atkins | South London Harriers | 14.16 |
| 49 | 36 | 85 | Gregory Campbell | South London Harriers | 14.44 |
| 52 | 37 | 86 | James McDonald | South London Harriers | 14.56 |
| 53 | 38 | 95 | Jonathen Augusto-Willcocks | South London Harriers | 14.57 |
| 62 | 45 | 93 | David Sidwell | South London Harriers | 15.28 |
| 73 | - | 91 | Stephen Martin | South London Harriers | 16.11 |
| 75 | - | 92 | Daniel Bush | South London Harriers | 16.20 |
| 79 | - | 94 | Sam Redmayne | South London Harriers | 17.03 |
| 83 | - | 87 | Robert Dunning | South London Harriers | 18.01 |
| 84 | 60 | 90 | Gary Read | South London Harriers | 18.19 |
| 1 | Aldershot Farnham & District | 13 | (1, 2, 4, 6) |
| 2 | Oxted County School | 93 | (14, 20, 27, 32) |
| 3 | South London Harriers | 94 | (11, 22, 25, 36) |
| 4 | John Fisher School | 99 | (19, 23, 28, 29) |
| 5 | Sutton & District AC | 100 | (15, 18, 24, 43) |
| 6 | Camberley & District | 103 | (17, 21, 26, 39) |
| 7 | Epsom & Ewell Harriers | 106 | (10, 13, 33, 50) |
| 8 | Hercules Wimbledon | 121 | (3, 16, 47, 55) |
| 9 | Herne Hill Harriers | 161 | (31, 34, 42, 54) |
| 10 | Woking AC | 201 | (44, 46, 53, 58) |
"Running Clogs"