The second round of the Brooks Westward cross-country league was originally scheduled to be held next weekend, when there are no other races on the southwest calendar for it to clash with, but for some strange reason they moved it forward a week so it had to compete for entrants with the Sourton Scramble, the Yarcombe Yomp, the Templer 10, the Bideford 10, the Plymouth 10k and the Ilminster 10k. This is crazy! Surely a little forward planning and coordination between clubs would ensure a higher number of entrants and also mean that the quality of the competition is not so diluted? The Westward League would benefit massively from being on a weekend when there were no other, or very few other, races for it to compete with, as the incentive to make a 200 mile round-trip for what can amount to little more than 20 minutes of running definitely dissipates when there is also the lure of a good local race on offer on the same day, just down the road. I know of several people who would have competed in the Newquay XC yesterday, myself included, and who would have helped out their club teams, if it had been left on its original date of 11th November, when we hadn't already signed up for other races.
Anyway, that said, for the Harriers who did compete in the various races around the region, getting muddy and dirty was the order of affairs as the Exmouth runners all opted for the muddy, off-road races and gave the road events a wide berth. Here's how everyone got on:
Yarcombe Yomp
On the Saturday, husband and wife super off-road running team, Jon and Lorraine Croome, travelled to the eastern border of Devon to run in the Yarcombe Yomp. There are 2 distances on offer - 5 and 10 miles - with the 10 being 2 laps of the 5. Both the Croomes opted for the 10 mile and got stuck into a tough, extremely hilly and muddy but very satisfying race around the stunning countryside of East Devon.
Jon had a superb race to finish 4th overall and 1st MV45 in a time of 1:23:07. The winning man, Alex Todd of host club, Axe Valley, covered the course in 1:12:36: these times giving you an indication of how tough the terrain is.
Wife Lorraine also had a fantastic run to cross the line as 3rd female overall and to take a comfortable victory in the FV45 category in a time of 1:38:29. Winning woman was again an Axe Valley runner, Amy Greenhalgh, finishing in 6th place overall in 1:23:40.
The Yarcombe Yomp was perhaps one of the greatest casualties of a weekend crammed with races and the best argument for staging a race on a weekend with less fixtures already on the calendar as the 10 mile event only attracted 48 runners. With the effort that goes into organising and staging such a fantastic event, it really is a shame that entrant numbers were so low.
Templer 10
Although measuring in at the same distance as the Yarcombe Yomp (or thereabouts, as it's actually 9.7 miles in length, but that just doesn't provide the adequate alliteration to make a catchy race name!), the hill profile of the Templer 10 is very different, being almost entirely flat as it goes up the Teign Valley following the Templer Way before making a loop around Stover Country Park and then returning to the start and finish venue at the Passage House Hotel, Kingsteignton.
Although flat, the heavy rainfall the night before the race made the 4 miles of fields in this event a boggy, muddy nightmare! Difficult to know what shoe choice to make as this run is half on muddy fields and half on roads and gravel tracks, but those of us in road shoes certainly had a hard time of it in the field section as we fought to stay upright! It is, however, a beautiful route and another superbly organised race by the Teignbridge Trotters. This year 231 competitors completed the race that was won in the superb time, considering the conditions, of 53:56 by Lee Turner of Torbay AC.
I, Ellie Sutcliffe, won the female race in 1:04:15. Only 14 seconds faster than when I ran it in 2010 and back then I had only been running for a few months, so time wise not the best, but I think the mud and road shoe combo had something to do with that!
Lisa Hatchard had a very fine run, relishing the mud as she continues to enjoy her off-road trail races, crossing the line in 1:18:47 for 100th place overall, comfortably inside the top half of finishers. Frustratingly Lisa so so narrowly missed out on 2nd prize in the FV35 category by just one place and 10 seconds. Very hard luck Lisa! Work on that sprint finish and next time you'll 'av her!
Completing a trio of Exmouth performances was Alison Milborrow who covered the 9.7 muddy miles in a time of 1:33:11 for 180th place and who enjoyed every minute of it!
Westward League Cross-country, Newquay
In the ladies race Moira Glen, Carly Audritt and Dawn Teed picked up where they left off last month and continued to represent the Harriers female contingent with pride at the round 2 event of the league in Newquay. Although it also incorporated the Cornwall county XC championships, it did not attract a huge number of Cornish runners and so our Devon girls were able to impose themselves upon the field.
Moira followed up her fine run at Redruth with yet another 3rd placing in the FV45 category, despite having been laid off running for the past few weeks with a leg and back injury. She placed 20th overall in a time of 27:06 for the 6k route.
Carly again got stuck in to the muddy conditions and fought hard for those valuable points for the team, placing 37th in 29:49.
True team player, Dawn, rounded off the proceedings getting those final vital scoring points for the team and placed 50th overall and 9th FV45 in 32:37.
There were 58 ladies who competed in this round. Moira, Carly and Dawn have got the Exmouth team off to a superb start as they are now sat in 9th place in the team standings. Hopefully more female Harriers will now be able to come into the team and support them now that it moves closer to home on December 2nd, at Exeter Arena.
Adam Miller will have been grateful for some male company this time round as he was also joined in Newquay by club mates Dave Stone, Marc Cox and Jim Wyatt.
Dave had a very good run over the men's 9k course, finishing in a time of 36:21 for 13th place overall and 2nd MV40. And who beat him to top spot in this category? Hmm, a certain J. Ward. A familiar name and face, or rather, back of head view, to Dave as this is the same J. Ward who Dave chased around the Dartmoor Discovery ultra marathon in June!
Despite taking a comfortable victory at the Killerton parkrun the previous day, Adam was not showing any signs of fatigue in his legs at Newquay when he took 39:04 to claim 38th spot in a very competitive male race.
Marc Cox was making his XC debut and looking to stamp his authority on the Cornish and Devonshire field of runners. He placed 58th overall and recorded a time of 41:28.
Bringing up the rear was true team player, Jim Wyatt. Jim can always be relied upon to help out the Harriers in relay and team events and he found himself up against a superbly competitive MV60 field in Newquay as his time of 58:10 gave him 11th place in his category and 108th overall out of the 108 runners. Even though Jim regularly comes out top dog in his category in local races, the XC brings all the best runners out of the woodwork and age is but a number.
Berihu Tesfay was also making his Westward League debut but unfortunately he was forced to retire part way in due to tight calves. The cold weather and mud of Devon is proving to be a little different to the warmer climes and compacted, arid trails of Eithiopia and bringing its own challenges to Berihu!
Unfortunately 5 men are needed to count for a scoring team out of 5 of the 6 events. With 2 events down and only 4 left to go this means that the Harriers men, who are previous winners of the prestigious XC team trophy, will not be able to compete for the team prize this year.
There is, however, a team competition to be incorporated into the SW inter-counties championships at Bicton on January 6th. Adam has suggested entering a couple of teams and if we get as many people there as possible, even if you are not overly competitive and looking to place high up the field, just by taking part you will be pushing runners from other clubs down the field and helping out the Exmouth runners at the top end. The entry details are to be found here:
http://www.sw-athletics-academy.co.uk/sw-championships/
Cross country crew, innit?!
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