The 1st day of advent, Saturday 1st December, was a highly successful one for the Exmouth Harriers. Fueled up on the first chocolates of their advent calenders, no less than 8 women and 10 men from the club made the trip to Exeter Arena for the 3rd round of the Westward League Cross-country, which, this round, also incorporated the Devon County Championships. This meant that the standard was high across all the different category races as Devon runners who haven't raced in the previous rounds turn out especially for this one to try and achieve county glory, either as an individual or for their club's team. With a smattering of Cornish runners added into the mix, this meant that all the fields were of a reasonable size.
The course is on the sloping Eastern Fields, adjacent to the Exeter Arena. The basic lap for the event measures in at about 2km, but loops in such a way that there were two climbs in each 2km long circuit. The women’s race took in two and a half laps of this circuit for just 5km of racing. This is compared to nearly 9km for the men and the question has to be asked, why this inequality? It has been scientifically proven that women often perform better at longer distances and, in the case of ultra running, often win races outright. Perhaps one theory is that it is likely that the longer the race is, the fewer women will contest it, though that theory would probably not hold water in our club where most of our women would consider a 5km a sprint and barely worth muddying the spikes for!
In the senior and masters' women's event, Exmouth certainly made their mark in the team contest. There were 2 team medals up for grabs, one for the first female team over all, comprised of the clubs first 3 runners across the line, of any age, and the other for "masters" teams, i.e. only including the first 3 women age 35 and over. Exmouth cleaned up with gold medals in both these competitions.
In the senior and masters' women's event, Exmouth certainly made their mark in the team contest. There were 2 team medals up for grabs, one for the first female team over all, comprised of the clubs first 3 runners across the line, of any age, and the other for "masters" teams, i.e. only including the first 3 women age 35 and over. Exmouth cleaned up with gold medals in both these competitions.
91 females finished the Senior Women’s race, with our Exmouth winning team of last year comfortably retaining our team champion status. The first counter for the team was myself, Ellie Sutcliffe, in 6th place overall in 17:74, closely followed by Cathy Newman, 8th overall in 18:01, and Hannah Bown, 19th in 19:16. Individually, I picked up the championship silver medal for the senior women, Cathy claimed the golden honours with a huge winning margin in the women over 50 section, and Hannah scooped a silver medal in the FV35 section. In the separate master's (Over 35) competition, Cathy and Hannah were allowed to score again, and they were joined by Lisa Hatchard (55th in 22:13) to make up the 1st placed team. A little younger, but no less gutsy, was Alice Kelly, who - making her first appearance in a Harriers vest and following in her Mum's footsteps - showed great promise in 39th overall in 21:00, bagging a well deserved silver medal in the under 20 women's competition. New women’s team captain, Carly Miller was 45th in 21:18, taking one for her team and turning out to run despite having been ill with a cold all weekend. Meanwhile, Carly's predecessor, Dawn Teed, was 63rd in 32:51 with Nicki Kelly, starting alongside daughter Alice, 67th in about 34 minutes.
In the men’s race the Masters' team title was also won by Exmouth Harriers. That team was comprised of Tony Hatchard, 27th in 30:05, Dave-Sparrow-Legs-Stone, 32nd in 30:10, and men's captain, Adam Miller, 41st in 30:49. There were high hopes too for the Exmouth men’s team too, but the forecasters had forgotten how strict the 'First Claim Rule' is in athletics. So Tom Merson won the race in 27:13 and new Exmouth recruit and last year's defending county champion, Andy Chambers, was 3rd in 28:04, both second-claim members and both sporting Exmouth vests, but while they could score for Exmouth in the incorporated Westward League (via special permission), they could only race in the county championships as individuals. There was the small consolation of the team remaining in 3rd position within the league.
Latest recruit and promising under-20 athlete, Alice Kelly.
Alice's Mum, Nicki Kelly, keeping running in the family!
The successful Exmouth women's team - 2 county team titles!
In the men’s race the Masters' team title was also won by Exmouth Harriers. That team was comprised of Tony Hatchard, 27th in 30:05, Dave-Sparrow-Legs-Stone, 32nd in 30:10, and men's captain, Adam Miller, 41st in 30:49. There were high hopes too for the Exmouth men’s team too, but the forecasters had forgotten how strict the 'First Claim Rule' is in athletics. So Tom Merson won the race in 27:13 and new Exmouth recruit and last year's defending county champion, Andy Chambers, was 3rd in 28:04, both second-claim members and both sporting Exmouth vests, but while they could score for Exmouth in the incorporated Westward League (via special permission), they could only race in the county championships as individuals. There was the small consolation of the team remaining in 3rd position within the league.
The first of 3 closely fought intra-club battles in the men's race, this one between Tony and Dave.
Further down a highly competitive field of nearly 200 runners, Marc Cox (74th in 32:30) finished just held of Mike Musgrove (76th in 32:32). Some way behind, another intra-club battle was playing itself out, with Dave Eveleigh (167th in 42:09) gradually pulling himself back to a fast-starting Lee Russell (166th in 41:43), but Lee fought back hard in the closing stages for a first win over Dave in a long time. Jim Wyatt, a veteran of cross-country in more ways than one, battled round the course in a time of 48:54 to take the County Over 70 Gold medal, making that 6 gold medals for the Harriers: 3 in the team competition and 3 individual wins.
And the second Exmouth battle, between Marc and Mike.
Just some of the 10 strong Harriers' men's team.
A successful day for Exmouth Harriers and impressively the team from Erme Valley Harriers, who are responsible for the over-seeing and managing of the Westward League, had those results published in detail within 24 hours. While acknowledging their hard work and commitment, it was unfortunate that the County officials chose to make the presentations to the Female medallists during the men’s race. This meant fewer people there and no male club-mates to offer their appreciation of their women club-mates. In fact this timing meant that the Exmouth women were not there either as they were course-side, cheering on their male club-mates and showing what the spirit of being in a club is all about: supporting your fellow club runners. This, combined with the shock of seeing the size of the men's team trophy compared to the complete absence of trophy available for the women's winning team, left us with an interesting debate about continuing gender inequalities within the domain of athletics. Well sorry guys, but we're here to stay, so invest in a trophy for us for next year please!
So, the Senior Men missed out, but three out of four senior team titles available were won by Exmouth Harriers, ahead, let's not forget, of teams from much bigger towns throughout Devon. Most importantly, all those who took part thoroughly enjoyed the experience and, in particular, appreciated the support from their fellow club-mates on the multi-lap course. For those us us who placed in the top 6 in the race over all, a Devon vest awaits us to be donned at the inter-counties event to be held at Killerton on January 5th. However, for those who aren't selected for Devon, this event is still open to everyone and the Harriers will be looking to defend, in the case of the women, and challenge, in the case of the men, the mob-match titles on offer within this event.
So, the Senior Men missed out, but three out of four senior team titles available were won by Exmouth Harriers, ahead, let's not forget, of teams from much bigger towns throughout Devon. Most importantly, all those who took part thoroughly enjoyed the experience and, in particular, appreciated the support from their fellow club-mates on the multi-lap course. For those us us who placed in the top 6 in the race over all, a Devon vest awaits us to be donned at the inter-counties event to be held at Killerton on January 5th. However, for those who aren't selected for Devon, this event is still open to everyone and the Harriers will be looking to defend, in the case of the women, and challenge, in the case of the men, the mob-match titles on offer within this event.
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