#secretcrosscountry – 17th October

Two eventful races were held on the famous Beckenham course this week. The carefully laid out route included a crossing of the muddy pond and was probably about 90 metres shorter than previous weeks.

New member Tom McGrath easily won the first race with an impressive display of powerful front running . Behind him there was a tactical battle between Alan Curtis, Paul McCrone and Simon Allen. Paul did most of the hard work but Alan Curtis ran the smartest race, powering away at the end with 17:17, Paul and Simon close behind both on 17:22. John Barron was 5th. The more John ran round the course, the less familiar he seemed to become with it. With the help of some emergency marshalling he was finally encouraged to go approximately the right way, although he didn’t seem to get his feet as wet as other runners.

Adam Paterson looked very strong smashing the (short) course record with 14:16, Jonny Tipper never quite managing to get very close to him (14:39). Kieran Fitzpatrick paced his race well with 15:33 putting a big gap into Iago Martinez. It was a surprise to see Iago steaming up the hill to finish ahead of Kieran, but it is suspected that he panicked in the notoriously confusing ‘Rowan’s tree’ area and missed out the last loop.

Same time next week for anyone who wants to run (0830, Beckenham Place Park)

Race 1
Tom McGrath
16:33
Alan Curtis
17:17
Simon Allen
17:22a
Paul McCrone
17:22
John Barron
18:15

Race 2
Adam Paterson
14:16
Jonny Tipper
14:39
Kieran Fitzpatrick
15:53
Iago Martinez
16:40