London Cross Country Championships
On Saturday 18th November the London Cross Country Championships took place and whenever there’s a Championship race at iconic Parliament Hill there are Stags to be found there. This year 24 started the race and 23 finished with numbers racing significantly up on the previous year demonstrating yet again the resurgence in racing the Club is enjoying.
It was an overcast but fortunately dry day although significant rain in the build up to the race meant that there was mud in abundance but we wouldn’t wish it otherwise. There are also hills of course; on repeat! Needless to say then amongst the more experienced and quicker Stags there was much discussion about the length of spikes and whether to run or walk up the hills. In other words it was the classic build up to a race everyone was looking forward to whether they were new to this wonderful and iconic course or veterans of many races here; the lure never diminishes. The camaraderie of cross country racing is something to behold; no one ever feels they are in the way. If you haven’t done it before give it a go.
The women’s race was first and covered a distance of about 6K; it felt longer! Emma McCluskey was very quick from the off and led our women home in a magnificent time of 27.04 (54th overall!); a fantastic performance by someone who is still an U20. Karen Murphy and Jo Kent followed Emma home and had typically great runs while the ever-improving Jana Jilkova (her cakes need no improvement) made up the scoring 4. All the women’s team showed great determination in the difficult conditions and did themselves and the Club proud. For Kathryn Ellis it wasn’t a race she particularly enjoyed but it did enable her to draw level with the current leader in the Winter Points Trophy and helps explain why she won it in the two preceding years. Well done all!
The men’s race was next and covered a distance of just over 10.5K; it felt longer! Once again it was a case of the two Ed’s; Spencer (a fantastic 64th overall) and Fraser leading the men home while another of our brilliant U20s, Joe Ward, was 3rd scorer. Charlie White in his first race of the Winter Season made up the scoring 4 with a great run. All our men coped admirably in the difficult conditions; no spikes were long enough to stop the slipping and sliding, and downhills never felt particularly comfortable. Graham Slater deserves special mention for running the race in trails (a foot injury having prevented him using spikes). That’s determination!
It was a great day out and we can feel very proud of our Teams. Our women were 33rd out of 56 teams and our men were 41st out 67 teams and that relates to Clubs who were able to field full teams; many couldn’t!