Culham Cross Country Report
(by Katherine)
Well it appears to go like this… you spend almost four years entering nearly every club championship race, spending x amount on entry fees and eventually you just may win that elusive (or is it exclusive ?) bottle of plonk. ( I don’t count the only other time I won it as it rolled out of my car boot on arrival at home , thereby disgorging all contents down my drive before I had chance to indulge )…
Ah.. cross country races, don’t you just love ’em…..the wet, the cold , wind..and that’s just the runners. Actually I do love them, weird as I am. Perhaps it’s got something to do with hauling myself over the Lake District fells with my Dad in my distant youth that brings back a few good memories.
With this race at Culham we had a great turn -out of numbers (nothing to with the fact it counted towards our own championship of course !) , so were sure of full teams for ladies and gents. Checking out the opposition both in our tent and others I could see it would be a tough race but that’s supposed to be good, isn’t it ?!! Hones the old mental skills, or something like that. Under starters orders and us ladies were warned not to knock over the poor youngster on the bend as he was still struggling around the final lap. Personally, I would have thought he could have got a PB seeing all us lot charging down on him . I didn’t actually see him as Denise and Hannah had gone speeding off at Bannister pace and all I could focus on was their heels becoming more fainter by the second. Hey Ho .
Head down and get on with the job in hand…staying upright in a ton of mud that is . All thoughts of good running form are out of the window. Next minute the rush is on to get a good position on the staight narrow bit and I felt my ankles turning in an unnatural angle to the ground ! Elbows out , that gets rid of a few trying to get past ! ( joking ,of course), Bit more flat straight bit and then don’t look up or else your heart does a little flip (sorry that meant to read.. steely determination takes over ) as the two short sharp hills loom. Of course that means there are two downhills, (I didn’t go to a grammer school for nothing you know ),and then it hits you that flying down isn’t really an option…more like flailing down. How the FUDGE do these fell runners do it ? At the bottom and here we go around again. Whose stupid bloody idea was this anyway to make us delicate ladies run futher this year ? Sadistic B####S ! Moan over with and I look up to see if I could try and reel a few in . Apparently my breathing has been compared to Darth Vader as I try and overtake. I would like to think that is where the comparison ends. Seeing the Finish is always good and especially when I could see my neighbour(Woodstock Harriers) seconds in front. How come the legs don’t do that sprint finish that gets practised in speed sessions ? Never mind , I ‘ll get her next time or the next….. Well done to us all for making that commitment to Team Eynsham. Us ladies are doing really well so it’s now up to you chaps to try and catch us us.
