Oxfordshire Cross Country League: Race 3 Horspath, Oxford (including the Oxfordshire County Cross Country Championships)

Author: erradmin 13th January 2016

Sunday January 10th 2016

Well Sunday’s XC was quite something to behold. The muddiest, calf-sapping, bilge-watered slipsliding slogfest of slurrydom since I joined Eynsham back in ‘10. But, of course, the several ‘Grandees’ who graced us with their 100-odd years of Oxford Mail XC League experience, may well harbour tales of greater XC challenges past! My calves still beg to differ, in their aching.

But, in fact, despite the bogsoggy underfoot terrain, there was lots to cheer as the sun made an unexpectedly early appearance to warm us all up to a comparatively balmy 6 degrees or so. And there were also plenty of cheers for each other as a healthy ERR contingent took on the mighty long and winding Shotover Hill (twice for some of us), a daring leap across stream and ditch, many many muddy, sodden fields and the joy of having a downhill or flat last mile, for once!

It was a real pleasure to be joined by the four debutants: Marguerite Darius, Kiri Weller, Kerry Lock and Nick Maynard to their first ERR XC races. Good for you for taking the leap. Also it was good to welcome back to the fold the Sonleys: Beth and Pete, who both distinguished themselves.

There were several noteworthy individual performances, but the highlight undoubtedly being the presence of a new-look Women’s A team, with Beth (17th) and Kerry Lock (43rd), joining running ace Hannah Hale (8th) to leap up the table and finish first on the day in Division 2, and 4th overall, beating even the mighty Oxford City. Hurrah! Congratulations are due, and long may their endeavours continue. Well-deserved county medals for 3rd in their respective categories also went to Women’s Captain, Jackie Pinnock and to Hannah.

Having trawled through all the XC results since 2006, for those stats geeks, you may now delight in some of the Women’s teams’ achievements below:

Three debuts: well done Ladies! Especially in that quagmire.
Bronze Medals for Hannah Hale (3rd SL) and Jackie Pinnock (3rd VL55)
Best ever placing: 4th overall
Highest ever placing in Division 2: top on the day
Best score of any Division 2 team at any race this season
The A team is now 4th in Division 2 for the season: highest ever cumulative season position
Score of 68 pts is better than 13 of Division 1 teams’ 24 scores so far this season
Second best ever Eynsham A team score (68) (Best of 65 at Ascott Nov. 2013)
Probably the best ever performance, given it was in the County Championships, so the opposition was likely to be of a higher calibre than Ascott Nov. ’13.
Beat Oxford City A (72), Alchester A (78) and Witney A (114) on the day
14 runners competed on the day (third highest number … 17 is the Women’s record)
One of the 5 best performances from the B team (based on points scored, weighted against number of runners in the race)
3rd best ever C team score (weighted, as above)

All in all, it was a good day. So, let’s hope that this inspires both the Women and the Men to push onwards and up(hill)wards.

The Men again fielded a very strong B team, packed with talent, demonstrating continued commitment to the series, which is laudable and meaningful. Pete Sonley had a very strong run to complete the A team, and Arthur McEwan-James finished very well, closing in on an A team place. The competition remains healthy.

The A team had quite a battle up nearish the top end of the race, with Henry Hart storming home first for the club (26th), closely followed by the Captain (29th) and Mark Baker (33rd). Each of these three has now led the team home in one race this season, and it was good to see such mutual support and words of encouragement between them, both during the race and afterwards. Signs of a good team ethic.

The As are very reliant on the solid commitment of Dafydd Warburton and Dave Ferrier, and Chairman Graham Bridges who showed signs of coming back into form as 5th ERR man home. Overall the Men have proved to be quite consistent over the season, and are currently sitting in 7th place in Division 1 after three races, but with some keen Division 2 teams eyeing promotion. So, here’s a call-out to all A and B team runners to block out your diaries now, for Feb 7th and Mar 6th, and commit to your training, so we can lay down two end-of-season markers.

It’s time to build on all our hard work and commitment of these last three years, and as I always say, a strong B team makes a strong A team, and vice versa.

THE ERR XC HANDICAP SCORES WILL BE ISSUED THIS WEEK TOO, SO YOU CAN SEE WHERE YOU ARE IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS

Thanks also to the cake providers, Jackie for sorting out the numbers, and anyone not specifically mentioned by name above, but know that you do all count and are very much part of the day.

Finally, a big thank you to John and Alexander Bishop for setting up the tent. I hear that Alexander had a good run too, which bodes well for the future.

RESULTS

U9 Girls and Boys (36 finishers)
Position	Name
26	Arthur Walker

U11 Boys (54 finishers)
Position	Name
22	Alexander Bishop

U20/Senior/Veteran Women (c. 4.1 miles) (174 finishers)
Position	Name	Time	Notable	Team
8	Hannah Hale	29:17	3rd Oxon SL; Bronze Medal	A (68 pts)
17	Beth Sonley	31:08	6th Oxon SL	A
43	Kerry Lock	33:38	Debut	A
70	Tess Evans	35:37		B (256)
83	Jackie Pinnock	36:49	3rd Oxon V55; Bronze Medal	B
103	Cecilia Dahlsjo	38:28		B
106	Kate Williamson	38:50	4th Oxon V55+	C (336)
113	Jane Garton	39:41		C
117	Rain Newton-Smith	40:17		C
127	Anna Mackin	40:55		D (408)
139	Kate Welsby	43:20		D
142	Jane Whitlock	43:31		D
169	Marguerite Darius	51:47	Debut	E (514)
170	Kiri Weller	51:59	Debut	E

Under 20/Senior and Veteran Men (c. 5.5 miles) (294 finishers)
Position	Name	Time	Notable	Team
26	Henry Hart	36:47	4th Oxon U20	A (524 pts)
29	Benedict Pollard	37:08	5th Oxon VM40	A
33	Mark Baker	37:19		A
91	Dafydd Warburton	41:02		A
103	Graham Bridges	41:39		A
111	Dave Ferrier	42:11		A
131	Pete Sonley	43:28		A
155	Arthur McEwan-James	44:09		B (1198)
156	Ewan MacDonald	44:12		B
160	Lee Hillsdon	44:21		B
164	Tom Baker	44:31		B
167	Tom Binnie	44:38		B
196	Nick Hardwick	46:34		B
200	Mark Schofield	46:56		B
205	Mark Creasey	47:12	4th Oxon VM60	C (1781)
228	Nick Maynard	48:35	Debut	C
251	Tony Whitlock	51:05		C
257	Alastair Graham	52:25		C
265	Colin Hancox	54:00		C
280	Keith Baker	59:11		C

Note: it was thought helpful to make a note of some of the other positions outside of the podium places too, as a guide to potential selection for inter-counties events, at U20/S/V levels.

The next Oxfordshire XC race is round 4 at the scenic Cirencester Park on February 7th and the final race at Harwell on March 6th. Please do make the effort to join in, and remember that the Cirencester XC is also in both the Long and Short Leagues of the 2016 Eynsham Club Championship.