Eastbrookend Country Park Proves to be no Obstacle to the Stags in the Chingford League

Saturday 2nd November saw the second Chingford League fixture of the season and in spite of the distance 41 Stags turned out compared to 35 last year; a huge improvement in numbers. The momentum is building nicely and it is worth noting that our turnout was split almost equally between men and women which is often not the case for other Clubs and is one of the reasons why our Team Spirit is so special.

The course is very much a ‘marmite’ course loved by many because it is only 7K, flat, fast and scenic and disliked by others because of obstacles such as gates and a car! and the sneaky hill at the end plus numerous twists and turns. It was very well organised and marshalled and on mixed terrain, including tarmac in parts, while the weather which was drizzly to begin with warmed up during the race. Great conditions for racing and our enthusiasm was high.

Nehal Lavey-Khan who seems to be getting faster and faster led our men home, closely followed by Ed Fraser while our women were led home by Charlotte Michael who was disappointed by the lack of hills although that didn’t stop her having a great race. Yilka Istrefi, who loved the course, was very close behind Charlotte having had a great run. In spite of a bad back Pauline Michael persevered and ended the race with a fine result while it was great to see the return of Jenny Lambert and not just because she brought her homemade cakes (the lemon drizzle cakes attracted the most praise but the rocky roads were finished first!).

Richard McCormick had another great race and is leading the Individual M60 Points Trophy. Matt Clark once again demonstrated the benefits of regular racing with yet another terrific performance while Chun Ng performed magnificently in spite of spending time on all fours searching for his glasses after they made a dive for the finish line from 50m out. It was also great to see the return of the men’s Winter Points Champion, Phil Collington.

Fierce but friendly competition between Stags is a feature of our Club and there were many great examples in this race; Ciara McHugh (so focused she didn’t realise there was a car on the course) beat Laura Ng by one second, Steve Holmes beat Rosalind Thompson by two seconds and the fast improving Brian Lallaway beat the fast improved Kathryn Ellis by a massive three seconds.

Not only did our many competitors give it their best on the day we had great support too in spite of the long journey there. Di Godin’s help with numbers was, once again, invaluable while the encouragement offered by cheerleaders and photographers Mel Davies and Scott Fraser proved very welcome. Special thanks are also due to our excellent videographer, Sarah Ralphs, for organising such a great pub social in the evening. I’m sure the pub is even more grateful given the absolutely massive boost to their takings.

Well done all!