Men’s Surrey League, Div. 1, Wimbledon, Nov 9
We strengthen our position with another excellent victory
After
an emphatic victory in the first fixture Kent AC men’s team secured another
convincing win in the second fixture at Wimbledon.
Although
not on the scale of last year, Wimbledon was again wet with rain for the
duration of the race. The course was quite a tricky test, lots of muddy
descents and narrow hills with tree roots to contend with. It was no surprise
that quite a few runners took a tumble on the course – for some it was more
than one fall. Kent AC had five scorers
in the first ten while Hercules Wimbledon, packing well like last season, had
five from nine to fourteen. Although we had five in the first ten, we actually
had six wearing Kent vests at the head of the race. In fact, Ross Braden
running second claim was actually second in the race – an absolutely tremendous
run from him and I would think it would have to be considered his best ever
run. A look at those behind him gives you a measure of the quality of the run.
Ross actually ran well for us last year on a different Wimbledon course but
this run was outstanding. It seems incredible that we had a second claimer
running for us who was second in the race and didn’t actually score, but I
guess it’s a reflection of the strength of the training group at Ladywell. The
likes of Max Nicholls and Nick Torry have longstanding links with the Ladywell
training group and when other commitments have allowed, they’ve been happy to
turn out for us. Our first scorer was Jim Allchin and after his excellent
second place in the first fixture, he looks a distinct possibility to take the
overall title this season – assuming he can race at the next two fixtures. The
actual winner of the race Guildford’s John Sanderson eased into the lead quite
early on in the race. Although at the start of proceedings Ross had actually
been leading the race. Subsequently Sanderson took over and was pursued by Ross
and then a group that was initially led by John Gilbert. Jim, Max and Nick were
also in the group. Jordan Weaver was just a bit farther back at this stage. On
the second lap the order changed with John dropping back a bit. Not content
with one fall, John actually fell twice. However, he didn’t suggest the falls
were responsible for him not being able to match his winning run at the first
fixture. He conceded he’d lost a bit of fitness – partly due to a niggling calf
problem. So with Ross not counting, in third we had Jim Allchin, then Max and
Nick in fourth and fifth. They were closely followed by John and Jordan in
seventh and eighth. Our sixth scorer, again enjoying a strong top twenty
finish, was Ben Harding in fifteenth. Next in was Dan Pettitt (35). Perhaps
better known as a track runner Dan seems to be stronger over the country this
season. His was an excellent run as was that of Rowan Crichton (38) flying the
flag for the B group training squad. A second impressive run consolidates his
position as leader in the cross- country handicap. Mind you he clearly has
competition as there was another great run from newcomer Bradley Smith. Niall
Stewart (40) was just ahead of Bradley.
However, Bradley, this time wearing appropriate footwear, was our last
scorer in the A team (42) – an extremely encouraging result for someone who I
believe is something of a novice at cross country. Not far behind Bradley was
Neil Phillips (47) having another positive run and the first scorer for the B
team. By the looks of it, Neil was second in the V40’s. Then just outside fifty
was a relative newcomer to the club, Sam Marshall. To be close to the top fifty
in this high-quality field is a very good result. Jo Vis was a non- scorer just
behind Sam and so our next actual scorer was U20, Michael Eagling (58). Last
season, maybe it was the exuberance of youth, Michael tended to go off too fast
and fade. Here, though, he paced things well for what may amount to a
breakthrough run. Like Sam, Cameron Forrest (66) is another fairly new to
racing for the club and he too showed he’s going to be valuable to our cause.
It looked as though he was fourth scorer for our B team which is impressive
given some of the quality runners he was ahead of.
As
well as wanting to beat opponents from other clubs, there is always plenty of
rivalry amongst our own runners and a desire to get one over on training
partners. This was amply demonstrated at the finish with a burn up between Pete
Lighting (84) and Rob Laing (85) who’d been together for much of the last lap.
Captured by a picture at the finish line Pete did one of his renowned all out
efforts. Like a soldier charging out of the trenches, Pete looks a fearsome
sight. Other runners who scored in our B team who haven’t been mentioned
included Dave Morgan (71), Tim Lawrence (79), Sean Fitzpatrick (85) and Calum
Fraser (92).
Then
a little farther down the field some other mini battles ensued. Ben Cook must
have been pleased to get the better of Ian Ellwood and James Bowler. There was
just a second separating Ian and James.
And only two seconds behind the duo was Stuart Beaney who clearly had
the pair in his sights. In turn, just two seconds behind Stuart, improving on
his Effingham run, was Lee Haze.
As
with the first fixture, we had a very big turn -out of runners at Wimbledon.
This is really pleasing as it represents both the strength of the club, and the
commitment we have in endeavouring to reclaim the title back. The full results
are on the Surrey League site while a complete list of all our runners that Ken
Pike compiled should follow on from this report.
All in all, a successful afternoon that leaves us in a very strong position going into the final two fixtures next year. Unsurprisingly there were celebrations post- race. What might be termed the hard core revisited a former celebration when the tops came off. Some will have seen the photos. It does lead one to wonder what will be coming off should we reclaim the title!
Surrey CC League Results
at Wimbledon on Sat 9th November 2019
2nd Ross Braden (n/s) 26 55
4th Jim Allchin 27 07 Teams
: 10 to score
5th Max Nicholls 27 10 1st KENT AC 197
6th Nick Torry 27 12 2nd
Hercules Wimbledon 281
8th John Gilbert 27 16 3rd
South London 414
9th Jordan Weaver 27 17 4th
Thames Hare & Hounds 418
16th Ben Harding 27 51 5th
Belgrave Harriers 445
36th Dan Pettitt 28 50 6th
Herne Hill H
451
39th Rowan Crichton 28 56 7th Guildford & G 547
41st Niall Stewart 28 58 8th Clapham Chasers 616
43rd Bradley Smith 28 59 9th Dulwich Runners 726
47th Neil Phillips 29 10
52nd Sam Marshall 29 18 B Teams: 10 to Score
57th Joe Vis
(n/s) 29
20 1st KENT AC 74
58th Michael Eagling 29 32 – 1st U20 2nd Herne Hill
H 210
66th Cameron Forrest 29 39 3rd
Hercules Wimbledon 328
71st Dave Morgan 29 51 4th
Clapham Chasers 471
77th Patrick Vis
(n/s) 29 54 5th
Belgrave H
473
79th Tim Lawrence 29 56 6th
Thames H & H 489
82nd Sean Fitzpatrick 30 01 7th
Guildford & G 606
84th Peter Lighting 30 10 8th
Dulwich Runners 717
85th Rob Laing 30 11 9th
South London H 727
92nd Calum
Fraser 30 26
104th
Ben Cook 30
47
107th
Ian Ellwood 30
55
108th
James Bowler 30 56
111th
Stuart Beaney 30 57
113th
Lee Haze
31 00
117th
Joe Hartley 31
10
118th
George Russell 31 10
120th
Will Pitt
31 13
121st
Phil Sanders 31
14
136th
Tim Copley 31
56
137th
Richard Giles 31
58
139th
Chris Busaileh 32
00
145th
Arif Merali
32 08
149th
Tim Alexander 32
15
165th
Che Compton 32
57
171st
Jake Herrara
33 06
202nd
Jamie Stinson 34
21
216th
Duncan Corrie 34
59
223rd
Khawaja Shahabuddin 35 28
225th
Andrew Johnson 35 36
231st
Adrian Dracup 35
57
236th
Paul McCrone 36
02
249th
Keiron Fitzpatrick 37
26
254th
John Greene 37 56
259th
Alan Curtis
38 28
261st
Michael Pywell 38
32
263rd
David Devlin
38 36
269th
Joseph Yee
40 05
272nd John Barron 41 01
277th
Phillip Marsden 44
29
279 runners finished