South of Thames 5 mile Championships, Morden

+                                                                    South of Thames Team Race

                                                                     at Morden Park on Sat 23^rd Nov 2019

  What a great day ! We simply demolished the opposition as we recorded a fine A team win by the Men backed up by another great result as our Women also won and not to be outdone our men’s B team came 2^nd in the A team competition.

   We were lead home  by Owen Hind in a good 3^rd place – which was a good result for him after a well earnt break that bodes well for future races. Recent recruit Jim Allchin ran well after a steady start and gained 5^th spot and nearly got the runner just in front of him, His good run despite not feeing 100% earnt him the pleasure of taking the magnificent team trophy home – the first one he has ever won !

  Another recent recruit Chris Busaileh returned to form and was rewarded with a fine 6^th place and the team was closed by Jordan Weaver who also ran well to earn 7^th  place despite being in a heavy training block. A total of 21 points was one of the lowest ever recorded and represents quite an achievement.

  Not to be outdone our B team then came home closely behind our A team. Led home by a great run in 10^th place from Neil Phillips, who is returning to his best form coupled with his recent England Vets appearance, bodes well for our Surrey  CC League team. Niall Stewart  ran well to record an fine 11^th place and his run also bodes well for our Surrey CC League performances.

  Then we had our new Cross Country captain Dan Pettitt who came home in 13^th place after his breakthrough run at the last surrey CC League and who already has done a great job in his new role. Last for our B team was Rob Laing who lead his usual charge through the field moving up to a fine 15^th place and sealing a superb 2^nd place for our B team in front of every A team from other clubs !

   A special mention must go to our C team who finished 4^th team overall and would have gained Silver medals if our A and B team were not there ! Led home by Dave Morgan(19^th ). Ben Cook (21^st ), Barny Day(22^nd ) and the ever green Phil Sanders(24^th ) they must consider themselves to be unlucky in a field of over 250 runners.

 What about the Women !  Well they had a great result matching the Men as they also  gained Gold medals and were led home by Cross country Captain Kate Rowland in 4^th place in a high quality competition. Next up was Alex Parker who had a breakthrough run as she came home in 15^th position and who was superbly backed up by both Jennifer Berg in 18^th place and Eliza Grant in 19^th place. So we were well worth mugging as we were laden with Gold and Silver on the way back to the station via a celebratory drink or two in the local pub.

Men:                                                                         Teams:                                   Women :

3^rd  Owen Hind            26 08                            1^st    Kent AC            21                4^th     Kate Rowland       31 25

5^th  Jim Allchin             26 17                            2^nd Kent AC  ‘ B’      49              15^th   Alex Parker           32 39

6^th  Chris Busaileh       26 50                            3^rd  Herne Hill          58              18^th   Jennifer Berg        33 05

7^th  Jordan Weaver     26 55                             4^th Kent AC  ‘C’       86               19^th  Eliza Grant             33 14

10^th Neil Phillips          27 37                                          47 teams                        42^nd Susie Fairbrass      36 30

11^th Niall Stewart        27 39                                                                                  46^th  Vicky Boyle             37 03

13^th Dan Pettitt           27 55                                                                                   56^th  Rachel Garrett       38 28

15^th Rob Laing             28 01                                                                                   64^th Amanda Nio            39 22

19^th Dave Morgan      28 18                                                                                    77^th Johanne Mott         41 30

21^st  Ben Cook            28 38                                                                                     95^th Caroline Ford          44 20

22^nd Barny Day           28 45                                                                                    118^th Annabelle Hadlow 53 14

24^th Phil Sanders        28 48                                                                                           120 Finished

25^th George Russell     28 51                                                                                           Teams:

32^nd Pete Lighting        29 11                                                                                    1^st   KENT AC               56

35^th  Lee Haze               29 27                                                                                    2^nd  Belgrave H           74

39^th  Calum Fraser             29 41                                                                                     3^rd South London H   87

41^st  Isaac Maxwell      29 47  – 3^rd U20 

52nd Richard Giles 30.23         

54th  Joe Hartley 30.30                                                                 21 teams

64^th Ian Ellwood           31 07

98^th Duncan Corrie      32 46

113^rd Chris Quaid         33 22

124^th Michael Duncan 34 04

149^th Alan Curtis           35 24

162^nd David Devlin        36 16

168^th John Barron         36 37

175^th Bernie Hutchinson 37 08

200^th Phil Marsden          40 17

                        227 Finished

(click image to enlarge)