Middlesex XC champs: modest medals and suspicious mud

Heathside resumed the 2012/13 cross-country season after the festive break with a predictable mud-fest at Wormwood Scrubs. To make matters worse, the muddiest parts of the course were characterised by a rather unpleasant sulphurous odour. Sometimes one can blame the runner up ahead on such occasions. This time it seemed more likely that the course itself was responsible. Despite such irritations, we managed to shake off Christmas excess in style with a solid all-round team effort, and took home a modest medal haul to boot.

First up, a quick round-up of the Junior races. In the Under 13 Girls race (3km, 50 finishers), Phoebe Crockford (34th), Isabelle Harvey (45th), and Rachel Finke (50th) ran Heathside in to 8th place, behind winners TVH. In the Under 13 Boys race (3km, 55 finishers), Isaac Costley finished a creditable 10th in a time of 11.34, in front of Liam Garrett (16th), Luke Gray (17th), Tom Mills (31st) and Antanas Weston (32nd). Heathside finished fourth, with TVH winning again.

In the Under 15 Girls race (4km, 41 finishers) Lauren Gee finished 13th, ahead of Ottavia Laidler (20th), Genevieve Weston (22nd), and Molly Harrison (32nd). Heathside were fifth, TVH first (yawn). In the Under 15 Boys race (4km, 41 finishers) Johnny Naylor was 17th, Mason Dietrich 36th, Harry Vinall-Smeeth 39th, and Alex Chowahern 41st. Heathside were 7th, with H*ghgate taking the honours.

Two Heathside runners took part in the Under-17 Women's race (5km, only 9 finishers), with Lily Beckford fourth and Rachel Seckl fifth. The club had no competitors in the Under 20 Women's race. In the Under 17 Men's category (6km, 35 finishers), James Wooldridge carried the torch for Heathside with a solid 16th place in a time of 21.29. Lastly, in the Under 20 Men's race (8km, just 12 finishers), Miron Woldemichael finished a respectable sixth in a time of 34.30, ahead of Melvin Wachira in ninth and Daniel Szajna in 10th. Heathside took second team place behind Ealing Southall and Middlesex.

On to the Seniors. In the Womens race, 93 finishers completed the very soft and muddy 8km course, of whom 14 were Heathside competitors. Star of the show was undoubtedly Sarah Swinhoe, who extended her amazing run of form from the last Met League race to finish a superb fourth in a time of 34.28, only five seconds off third place. Even the ever-dependable Sue Rust had to watch from further back down the course, although it's only fair to point out that Sue had just got off the plane after a flight from Dubai via Kiev! Sue's sixth place finish suggests that she'll be back to her best by next Saturday's Met League fixture. Ladbrokes are running a book. I'm not telling who my money is on.

With four to score, Heathside's team was completed by Claire Miller, who also managed a top 10 finish (9th, in 36.15), and Edie Fassnidge, back from an injury lay-off, who came in 19th. With all four scorers in the top 20 we might have won the women's competition, were it not for H*ghgate, who managed second, third, fifth and sixteenth. Second place ahead of Serpentine, ESM, TVH and the others is a great result, nonetheless. Congratulations ladies!

In the Senior Men's race (12km, 148 finishers) it was all about Tom Aldred, who ran as if his post-marathon injury had never happened, to finish a fabulous third in a time of 42.35. Tom's class put him a full three minutes and 57 seconds ahead of Dan McKeown, whose 27th place (46.32) was pretty impressive in itself. Apparently Tom had time for a shower, a change of clothes and a cup of tea before Anthony Hall finished 29th (46.41), Julian Ferraro 32nd (47.02), Chris Hartley 37th (47.34), and Howard Gold 43rd (48.02) to complete the six Heathside scorers. Let me be clear: the other five all had good runs.

Twenty Heathside men completed the race, a great turnout so close to the start of the year.

Heathside's team (six to score) finished in fourth place, behind winners Hillingdon, H*ghgate and TVH. Greater success in the 12 to score competition (from which the first three teams in the six to score event were excluded), which we won. So, in addition to the six mentioned above, take a bow (and collect a medal from me) Alex Weatherhill, Norman Mitchell, John Flahive, Simon Nash, Dom Jackson and Andy Owen. I have done the maths, and if the top three teams had been included, we'd have been second in the 12 to score competition, behind Hillingdon. Well done, lads!

THIS WEEK'S RESULTS

Middlesex XC Championships, Wormwood Scrubs, 05/01/2013

Under 13 Boys

10th Isaac Costley 11.34

16th Liam Garrett 12.01

17th Luke Gray 12.02

31st Tom Mills 12.46

32nd Antanas Weston 12.48

Under 13 Girls

34th Phoebe Crockford 14.28

45th Isabelle Harvey 15.40

50th Rachel Finke 18.44

Under 15 Boys

17th Johnny Naylor 17.04

36th Mason Dietrich 19.12

39th Harry Vinall-Smeeth 19.18

41st Alex Chownahern 22.49

Under 15 Girls

13th Lauren Gee 19.25

20th Ottavia Laidler 20.18

22nd Genevieve Weston 20.29

32nd Molly Harrison 21.52

Under 17 Men

16th James Wooldridge 21.29

Under 17 Women

4th Lily Beckford 22.33

5th Rachel Seckl 23.03

Under 20 Men

6th Miron Woldemichael 34.30

9th Melvin Wachira 36.15

10th Daniel Szajna 37.16

Senior Women

4th Sarah Swinhoe 34.28

6th Sue Rust 35.15

9th Claire Miller 36.15

19th Edie Fassnidge 38.15

28th Claire Morrissey 38.48

29th Elspeth Storrar 38.52

35th Fiona Alston 39.37

38th Katherine Vinnicombe 40.01

40th Bridgit Napleton 40.10

49th Clare Thornhill 42.02

54th Ruth Miller 42.35

62nd Jo Irwin 43.52

76th Gabi Johnson 47.47

87th Alison Harrow 51.55

Senior Men

3rd Tom Aldred 42.35

27th Dan McKeown 46.32

29th Anthony Hall 46.41

32nd Julian Ferraro 47.02

37th Chris Hartley 47.34

43rd Howard Gold 48.02

58th Alex Weatherill 49.54

59th Norman Mitchell 49.56

63rd John Flahive 50.17

67th Simon Nash 51.10

68th Dominic Jackson 51.14

73rd Andy Owen 51.53

78th David Hellard 52.16

79th Pete Crockford 52.24

82nd James Josephs 52.37

89th Matt Fassnidge 53.29

100th Paul Lemmon 54.30

110th Simon Hazel 56.06

112th Carl Heap 56.12

134th Nick Skipper 61.50

Note: with other counties' XC championships on the same weekend, we had a couple of 'Heathsiders in disguise' popping up elsewhere

Hertfordshire XC County Champs (11k)

71 53:06 Robin Tremaine V55

Buckinghamshire XC County Champs (11.2K)

27 46:09 Declan Hamblin

Regent's Park Winter Series 10kHugh Wade-Jones 38:44Phil Wright 39:13Robert Bowler 46:50

Tadworth 10

336 1:27:54 Maxine Kelly

476 1:37:50 Robert Watts


Assorted parkruns, with cloning and time travel (either that or their results service is on the blink again)

Ally Pally parkrun, 05/01/2013

1 Paul MERCER 00:22:40

2 Liam PROUDLOCK 00:18:15

8 Dominic JACKSON 00:20:41

10 Richard HEWETT 00:21:11

Barking parkrun, 05/01/2013.

3 David SPENCER 00:21:47

Brighton & Hove parkrun, 05/01/2013.

3 Kev GADD 00:17:15

31 Mark DERRY 00:19:45

Bushy Park parkrun, 05/01/2013.

249 Usman HASAN 00:23:25

Finsbury parkrun, 01/01/2013.

1 Alex GALLOWAY 00:18:19

6 Alexander SWEET 00:19:16

7 Rob SHULMAN 00:19:55

17 Fiona ALSTON 00:21:53

25 Gabrielle JOHNSON 00:24:18

79 Sarah ILLINGWORTH 00:25:24

80 Adrian ESSEX 00:25:31

99 Aislin MAGEEAN 00:27:00

108 Jill GUNDRY 00:27:38

109 Lyn EVANS 00:27:40

110 Robert WATTS 00:27:41

121 Laura BOOTHMAN 00:28:37

125 Francesca WOOD 00:29:00

Gladstone parkrun, 01/01/2013.

5 Nick DE SAUSMAREZ 00:21:47

Hackney Marshes parkrun, 05/01/2013.

10 Michael ABRAHAMS 00:20:09

15 Gavin PARISH 00:20:35

29 Agi PALANKI 00:23:54

44 Alice PARISH 00:29:51

Hampstead Heath parkrun, 01/01/2013.

3 John DRISCOLL 00:20:13

7 John DRISCOLL 00:20:16

40 Andrew SULSTON 00:24:11

66 Andrew Simon CONWAY 00:26:16

Oak Hill parkrun, 05/01/2013.

8 Marco MASERATI 00:21:37

20 Michiko THOMAS 00:23:58

31 Claire SLIWERSKI 00:26:33

Whitstable parkrun, 05/01/2013.

30 Julie KHAN 00:23:44