Harriers members have been embracing the cross country circuit a lot more this year, thanks to the efforts of team captains old and new to encourage more members to have a go. It was good to see so many of the royal blue and yellow vests on display at the event, despite the fact that it had competition for attendance from the ever popular First Chance 10k, being held on the same day. It was also fantastic to see some cross country debutants giving it a go for the first time: Jane MacDonald and Susan Hill sure picked a tough event for their first go at cross country; talk about in at the deep end, they were in it up to their necks.... mud that is, glorious mud, as much of the stuff as you could shake a stick at! A handful of Harriers had been selected to run for Devon and so were to be seen sporting the blue and white county vest; although athletes running for their county could also score points for their respective club teams, so they were clad in the Harriers blue and yellow still in spirit!
The course had been thoughtfully designed to incorporate some of Killerton's finest (and steepest) terrain, taking runners from an initial lap (or 2, depending upon the length of their race) of the flat starting and finish field, in front of the house, up the short, sharp hill to the start of the parkrun, through the gates, into the next field, and all the way down to the bottom of the valley, only to have to turn around and head straight back up again. There were 10 races throughout the day, covering all age categories from 11 years up to masters, and with men and women running separately this represented a superb opportunity to line up against a fair but highly competitive field. In the week preceding the event, it looked increasingly doubtful as to whether or not it would go ahead, with torrential rain and high winds threatening health and safety issues on the course; however, luckily the forecast for the day was a calmer one, yet still very wet and grey.
Although we didn't manage to come away with any team glory, the team spirit was certainly very high with all the runners supporting each other on the course, and we did scoop a few individual medals and one inter-counties title.
In the senior men's race, the 7th race of the day, there was an extremely competitive line up in a decent sized field of 136 runners. The men had to complete 2 extra large laps, involving 4 substantial hills, which amounted to just short of 9k in distance. Our second claim star athlete, Tom Merson, was running for Bristol and West, his first claim club, at this event, but was a little under the weather, suffering the after effects of a cold, and so valiantly fought his way around the course for 5th place. Behind him, the Exmouth talent was packing tight, with a few familiar inter-club battles waging away for added competition. Marc Cox found himself out front, leading the field, in the opening few meters, showing that he's a fearless runner ready to attack a race, but also, perhaps, that he had underestimated just how tough this course is in comparison to the other Westward League events!
Dave Stone: 35:28; 36th overall, 3rd MV40 (bronze medal in vet 40 section)
Tony Hatchard: 35:28; 38th overall, 6th MV35
Adam Miller (Captain): 36:10; 47th overall
Marc Cox: 39:16; 76th overall
Jon Garrity: 42:26; 99th overall
Chris Dupain: 44:20; 113th place overall
Dave Eveleigh: 49:58; 131st place overall, 3rd ? MV60 (so it says on the results, but Dave reckons not!)
The senior women ran one extra large lap, tackling 2 of the big hills, covering a distance of approximately 6km. In this race, Cathy, Hannah, Alice Kelly (U20) and myself were all running for Devon. I fluffed up spectacularly and managed to miss the start (don't even ask how, I can't quite fathom it myself...) and so found myself playing catch up for the early part of the race and then paying for that catch up in the later part. Cathy had a truly outstanding run, arguably the Harriers' performance of the day, as she not only finished as a comfortable winner in the FV50 section, but she beat all the FV40s and 45s and the majority of all the other athletes, as she placed 9th overall. She was also the 2nd counter (of 6) in the Devon team. Phenomenal! Alice Kelly had a strong debut for Devon in the under 20s section and Jane and Susan showed true grit and team spirit to give this tough event a go without the best footwear (whilst trail shoes are fine for the parkrun course, this route was literally a bog by the time it got to the ladies race (8th of the day) and so anyone not in a 12-15 inch spike did well to stay on their feet, let alone get round!
Cathy Newman: 24:26; 9th overall, 1st FV50 (gold medal vet 50s section; 2nd counter and silver medal in Devon team)
Ellie Sutcliffe: 24:31; 10th overall, 2nd Senior female (silver medal senior female section; 3rd counter and silver medal in Devon team)
Hannah Bown: 26:26; 25th overall, 7th FV35
Alice Kelly: 29:22; 57th overall, 11th U20
Emma White: 29:28; 58th overall
Carly Miller (Captain): 30:01; 59th overall
Jane MacDonald: 32:35; 67th overall
Dawn Teed: 32:55; 70th overall, 5th FV50
Susan Hill: 33:20; 71st overall, 6th FV50
Well done to all the Harriers who gave it their best in miserable, muddy conditions. If this isn't tough winter training, I don't know what is!
Start of the senior women's race; where's Wally? Er, I mean Ellie... well, no wally! Not there!
Cathy (left): truly superb performance, county gold in the FV50 section and top 10 place overall
(Both photos (C) Pete Newman)
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