An uncharacteristically warm day (c. 20˚C) greeted the 31 Eynsham participants at the first cross country race of the season, allowing some of us to even enjoy a pub lunch outside in the sun afterwards. Many thanks to Witney Roadrunners for hosting this event (they hosted the race, not the pub lunch!)
Congratulations to Hannah Hale for finishing a strong 7
th overall in the Women’s race (3
rd Senior); Jacky Pinnock (3
rd V55); Mark Baker (21st place) bringing the Eynsham Men home; Tom Binnie and Henry Hart for very solid debuts, with Lee Hillsdon grabbing the 7
th spot in the Men’s A team.
It was great to see so many familiar faces and ‘well done’ to
everyone who took part, especially the nine entrants debuting as Eynsham XC runners: Arthur and George Walker, Kate Welsby, Tom Binnie, Henry Hart, Peter Green, Bob Newby, Nick Hardwick and Colin Hancox.
Follow the link below for the official results
...
In the team events, both the Women (6
th in Div. 2) and the Men (6
th in Div. 1) were unfortunately somewhat hampered by the absence of potential A and B team personnel, due to injury, illness, half-term, working on a Sunday (eh?), holidays, hangovers (apparently), lie-ins (?) … and so one might conclude that the opening race of the season was an averagely steady one, rather than anything notable, from that perspective.
The
ERR XC Championship handicap results will be issued separately in due course. One amendment to this year's competition is that the committee has agreed to allow four out of five races to count (instead of last year's 5/5). Those absent from Ascott still now have a good chance of winning, and those runners who do run all five races will be able to drop their weakest race (we all have one!).
Special commemorative engraved medals to honour XC commitment across the season will remain eligible only to those running all five races.
So do please support the club and commit to your team-mates by making yourselves available on Sundays to run Race 2 at Culham on
December 6th, Race 3, the County Championships at Horspath (Oxford) on
January 10th , Cirencester Park on
February 7th and the finale at Harwell on
March 6th ... let's really further the momentum we have all created so well these last few years.
Benedict Pollard (Men’s XC Capt.)
| Oxfordshire Cross Country League Race 1: Ascott-under-Wychwood |
| Race 0 |
Under 9 Girls and Boys (30 finishers) |
|
|
| 23 |
Arthur Walker |
|
Debut |
| 30 |
Florence Wetherald |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Race 2 |
U11 Boys (52 finishers) |
|
|
| 33 |
Alexander Bishop |
|
|
| 50 |
George Walker |
|
Debut |
|
|
|
|
| Race 7 |
Women (185 finishers) |
|
|
| 7 |
Hannah Hale |
24:27 |
3rd Senior |
| 90 |
Tess Evans |
31:18 |
|
| 91 |
Jacky Pinnock |
31:22 |
3rd V55 |
| 102 |
Kate Williamson |
32:10 |
|
| 110 |
Tara Lawfull |
33:10 |
|
| 112 |
Rain Newton-Smith |
33:16 |
|
| 115 |
Kate Welsby |
33:30 |
Debut |
| 144 |
Elaine Butler |
35:36 |
|
| 149 |
Jane Whitlock |
36:23 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Race 8 |
Men (306 finishers) |
|
|
| 21 |
Mark Baker |
32:13 |
|
| 24 |
Benedict Pollard |
32:24 |
|
| 36 |
Thomas Binnie |
33:07 |
Debut |
| 46 |
Henry Hart |
33:21 |
Debut |
| 109 |
Dave Ferrier |
36:24 |
|
| 130 |
Graham Bridges |
37:11 |
|
| 150 |
Lee Hillsdon |
38:16 |
|
| 167 |
Simon Walker |
38:52 |
|
| 231 |
Peter Green |
41:30 |
Debut |
| 232 |
Robert Newby |
41:35 |
Debut |
| 234 |
Nick Hardwick |
41:41 |
Debut |
| 240 |
Mark Creasey |
42:15 |
|
| 256 |
Colin Hancox |
44:00 |
Debut |
| 260 |
Steve Butler |
44:31 |
|
| 262 |
Alastair Graham |
44:42 |
|
| 271 |
Tony Whitlock |
45:52 |
|
| 299 |
John Bishop |
52:24 |
|
| 302 |
Keith Baker |
54:37 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marshalls |
|
|
|
Tess Evans; Adrian Pinnock; Jacky Pinnock; Kate Williamson |
|
Thank you ! |
|
|
|
|
|
Cake |
|
|
|
Jacky Pinnock |
|
Top recipes |
...
Read more 
Robert's leg, afterwards.
Race report (by Graham).
‘Have you done the maths?’, I asked.
‘I have’, he replied.
Nothing further was said. We both knew the time for talking was long gone.
Ok, so it wasn’t quite like that, and the start of the breakfast run didn’t sound like a scene from The Godfather. Instead it more a case of establishing who was the more injured (Robert), who had taken the most painkillers (Robert), and then who could run fastest (err… Robert). Also, it turned out that he hadn’t done the maths, and that my 2nd place was enough to stop me from going on about a certain other 2nd place ever again.
Elsewhere, Marie showed the benefits of all those early morning climbs of Tumbledown Dick by winning the ladies’ long race ahead of a fast finishing Tess, whose 50 points plus joker were enough for her to clinch 3rd place in the ladies’ long league.
Matt Ray turned up fashionably late (the student lifestyle already showing through), but still managed to blow the field away in the short race, while Tara completed an almost perfect record for the year by being the first lady home.
Perhaps more importantly than all that, the breakfast at the new venue of the Jolly Sportsman was very well received. Some might even think that was the main reason why so many people turned up…
...
Robert's leg, afterwards.
Race report (by Graham).
‘Have you done the maths?’, I asked.
‘I have’, he replied.
Nothing further was said. We both knew the time for talking was long gone.
Ok, so it wasn’t quite like that, and the start of the breakfast run didn’t sound like a scene from The Godfather. Instead it more a case of establishing who was the more injured (Robert), who had taken the most painkillers (Robert), and then who could run fastest (err… Robert). Also, it turned out that he hadn’t done the maths, and that my 2nd place was enough to stop me from going on about a certain other 2nd place ever again.
Elsewhere, Marie showed the benefits of all those early morning climbs of Tumbledown Dick by winning the ladies’ long race ahead of a fast finishing Tess, whose 50 points plus joker were enough for her to clinch 3rd place in the ladies’ long league.
Matt Ray turned up fashionably late (the student lifestyle already showing through), but still managed to blow the field away in the short race, while Tara completed an almost perfect record for the year by being the first lady home.
Perhaps more importantly than all that, the breakfast at the new venue of the Jolly Sportsman was very well received. Some might even think that was the main reason why so many people turned up…
...