Mens Cross Country

9/2/2009

Surrey League, Wimbledon Common

On Saturday the final fixture of the men's 2008-2009 Surrey Cross Country League took place at Wimbledon Common. West 4 Harriers were looking for promotion back to division 2. For a while on Thursday and Friday the snow and ice from earlier in the week looked like they might postpone the fixture but the bad weather forecast for Friday never arrived so the race was on. Unlike the ladies' race which was postponed when Croydon council refused permission for the race to go ahead.

Back on Wimbledon Common, the weather had left the common covered in pools of icy water in the open and a lot of mud and slush in the woods and at the bottom of the hill. At least the weather stayed dry if a bit cold.

An icy and muddy Wimbledon Common

Thanks to the fixture not clashing with the Met league we could call upon Paul Lemmon and Ray Dzikowski as well as Ben Madsen returning from injury and illness. First home for West 4 was Scott Mitchell, 5th in the race and 2nd in division 3 closely followed by Paul, Ray and Ben.

Overall we finished second with our best score of the season, which ensured that we were promoted back to division 2 having never been out of the top 2 all season. In first place were Ful-On Tri who had pulled out the big guns to ensure they won the final fixture and the division 3 title.

Making his cross country debut in this race was Andrew Orchard who had quite a baptism of mud. Special mention must also go to Cliff Mills who completed the race having lost half the sole of his shoe half way round the first lap but still completed the race!

Congratulations to all who ran on Saturday and all who have run for us this season. I look forward to next season when if we can consistently turn out a team of the same quality as this season we will be able to stay up.

Good luck to the ladies at their rearranged fixture and hope to see you all at the end of season social.

Here are the West 4 Results:

The match result was:

and the final league table:

Gary Robinson

24/1/2009

South of England Championships, Uxbridge

On Saturday 24th January the South of England cross country championships were held at Hillingdon House Farm Sports Ground near Uxbridge. With a third of an average January's rainfall falling on Thursday night and 8 races over the course before the men got their go on the course there was only one thing to expect. Mud and lots of it.

For some reason this being a championship race its 15km long, which meant 4 big laps of the course!

Due to the conditions it was a slog most of the way round and everyone was running considerably slower than usual. Though not winner Phil Wicks of Belgrave who seemed to be floating over mud when he lapped me halfway round my penultimate lap! I have to say that it probably ranks as one of the most miserable cross country races of my life.

We should have had a scoring team of 6 for the first time in a few years but with Cliff arriving just before the start and not managing to find me to get a number we only registered 5 in the official results.

Just as well since with John DC and Ali somehow managing to start late despite being at the venue in plenty of time by calculations we would probably have been ranked in the last 3 three teams :-(

Here's the West 4 results:

Also running but for their first claim clubs were Paul Lemmon who finished 157th in 1:01:56 and Tom Lamb who was 578th in 1:22:31

Well done to all who ran and thanks a lot to the ladies team of Alison, Anna C, Isobel, Rachel and Shelley who braved the cold after their race to stay and support. Your cheering and shouting really made a difference even if it didn't look like it on our faces!

Gary Robinson

10/1/2009

Surrey League, Lloyd Park

Saturday afternoon saw West 4 Harriers descend on Lloyd Park, Croydon for the third fixture in the Surrey Cross Country league. Sub zero temperatures meant that conditions were very firm under foot instead of the usual quagmire.

Heavy traffic travelling across south London meant that most people arrived with not much time to spare and Scott and I (and our race numbers) missed the start! In my absence Keith obtained a spare set of numbers and organised the team. Thanks Keith.

Despite our quickest runner starting nearly 7 minutes behind the field, West 4 Harriers won the fixture lead home by Antony Di Angelo and Matt Holden in 7th and 9th respectively in division 3. Former captain Dave Griffiths made a fine return for West 4 as 4th scorer in 24th place just in front of Chris Twistleton making his cross country debut.

As mentioned above West 4 won by a mere 6 points from Ful-On Tri meaning that the we remain in second place in the league but didn't close the gap on them. With Runnymede not having the best of races we opened a gap over third place. This means with one fixture remaining it looks we're in with a good shout of promotion back to division 2.

Well done to everyone who ran. Thanks to Keith for organising numbers etc. on the day and Ben for support.

The remaining fixture is on Saturday 7th February at 3pm on Wimbledon Common.

Here are the West 4 results:

The match result was:

and the league table:

Gary Robinson

8/11/2008

Surrey League, Lightwater

Saturday saw the second fixture of the Surrey League at Lightwater country park. The course was three laps with a very steep hill and some very narrow sections with gorse bushes. The weather just held off for the race but we did get a drenching as we headed for the cars afterwards.

With West 4 looking to continue with the push for promotion we had a bumper turn out of 18 runners. That should have been 19 runners but unfortunately Ben turned his ankle warming up and we were nearly down to 17 runners mid race as I tripped and went flying like Ronaldo in the penalty area. Fortunately the damage was superficial, so I picked myself up and finished the race.

Scott Mitchell was first home for West 4 in 12th place with Antony Di Angelo not far behind.

James Eatwell made his cross country debut for the club along with Scott's younger brother Luke.

West 4 finished joint second with hosts Runnymede, behind Ful-On Tri who won for the second fixture in a row. This means that West 4 are still second in the league. This means that we are now well placed for promotion to division 2 half way through the season.

Well done to all who ran and thanks to Rose, Shelley and Rachel for staying behind after the their race to support and Megan, Rachel, Rose and Steve for cakes.

Here are the West 4 results:

The host club had problems with their stop watches so only half the times were recorded.

Here is the full match result:

and the updated league table:

Gary Robinson

11/10/2008

Surrey League, Nork Park

The cross country season returned on Saturday afternoon. Having been relegated to division 3 last season West 4 were looking to get promoted back to division 2 straight away. The combined divisions 3 and 4 fixture was hosted by Tadworth AC at Nork Park, a new venue for us. The course turned out to be very good under foot but what it lacked in mud it made up for with hills. 3 laps with a long, testing climb each time but with the sun out and mild temperatures conditions were ideal for racing.

Ben Madsen lead us home in 7th overall and 4th in Division 3. Tom Pocock made a fine debut for West 4 finishing in 36:08. West 4 finished our scoring 10 inside the top 60 in division 3, a very good result meaning that we finished second in the fixture behind Ful-On Tri.

This is a great start to the season and our push to get promoted back to division 2.

Well done to all who ran and thanks to our supporters Keith, Rachel and Tom C.

The next fixture is on Saturday 8th November at Lightwater, where we should be looking to close the gap on Ful-On Tri and consolidate our place in the top two. If you missed this fixture or haven't tried cross country put this date in your diary to join the team and the promotion push.

Here are the West 4 results:

Here is the match result:

Gary Robinson