WESSEX LEAGUE RACE 6 – AVON HEATH – 2 March 2008

Ladies’ Day at Cross-Country as our senior women take the League Title

Our biggest WAC turnout of the season (20 runners) were there to see Wimborne Ladies take the league title at Avon Heath. Amongst our twenty were four XC debutants – all of whom gave a very good account of themselves which bodes well for next season. Welcome aboard Tom Broderick - who finished first WAC u13B, Wendy Trueman – who finished first WAC Senior Lady, Annemarie Fachiri and Jon Braund.

A full set of results and aggregates will be found on the Wessex League’s own website – www.wessexleague.com but here are the highlights as far as WAC are concerned:

Teams

1^st  – WAC Senior Women

4^th – WAC Senior Men ‘A’ Team (Div. 1)

1^st – WAC Senior Men ‘B’ Team (Div. 2)

Individuals

1^st – Julie Mead (F40 age group)

3^rd – Jill Harsent (F45 age group)

As reflected in the individual trophies above, it was the foundations laid down by Jill and Julie that led to the ladies taking Wimborne’s first ever Wessex League title. They had some terrific support throughout the season. Race 1 saw a great run from Lynda Faulkner. Nicki Roe and Claire Newby discovered the delights of XC in Race 3 and from that point on became integral members of the team. Kim ran at Kings Park (Race 4) and it was Veronica Harvey’s courageous run at Ham Hill that kept the title hopes alive in Race 5. To finish Race 6 with two new faces, Wendy Trueman and Annemarie Fachiri, was a real bonus.

Julie Mead is going to need a new trophy cabinet as she  finished the season as a champion twice over. A great reward for your commitment, Julie. Jill tied on points with the second place runner in her age category (but lost out on head-to-heads). Jill has been a massive contributor to WAC’s upsurge in commitment towards cross-country in the past five years. I took over the cross-country team manager’s job at the start of the 2002/2003 season and no-one has done more Wessex XC races than Jill in that time. But perhaps Jill’s biggest contribution is the largely unseen and unheralded one of helping with the organization administration and general support of the XC team. I couldn’t have done my bit without the back-up I have had from her over those five years. Thank you. Jill is likely to be moving away from Wimborne in the next few months – her new home will probably be in the Cotswolds. I am hoping that this will not prove to be too far away for her to maintain her links with the club and to regularly turn out for us next season in the Wessex League. It is fitting that in Jill’s last season based in Dorset that the women have lifted the team trophy, and I am encouraged by the commitment to XC shown by some of our more recent recruits, so despite the setback I remain optimistic about the future.

Back to race day at Avon Heath. Events started with the under-11s race. We had two runners on the start line. Adam, once again, was well up at the head of the field and Kelly, who is just 9-years-old, also had a very good run. These two are terrific prospects. Alexandra ran in the U13 girls’ race and the comeback continues with easily her best race of the season – watch her go next season. In the U13 boys race Tom made his WAC XC debut in fine style finishing just ahead of Callum who probably had his best Wessex League race this season. The under-15 age group continues to be the one we are least well represented in - well done to Laura who has spent much of the season out there on her own. In the under-17s race, for the second time in a row we had a full team out. Maddy and Kirsty were involved in a ding-dong battle all the way to the line, this time it was Maddy who just came out on top.

The Ladies took the limelight in the senior races, but it was great to see Tim Harris representing us again and leading our senior men home. Graham got the better of Daryl this time in a  rivalry that has been going on all season. Jon Braund was a Wessex League debutant for the men’s team. Although this was Jon’s first league race let’s not underestimate the huge contribution he has made, along with Craig Dixon, in his commitment to the Saturday training sessions over the winter.

Thank you to everyone who ran, supported, coached, marshalled (at Kings Park) or contributed in any other way. It has been hugely enjoyable this season and a great team effort. Thank you.

Ian

Full results for WACers were as follows:

Under 11 Boys

4th – Adam Collins – 5.21

15^th – Kelly Snook – 6.28

Under 13 Girls

8th – Alexandra Vaughan-Johncey – 8.15

Under 13 Boys

12^th – Tom Broderick – 11.44

13th – Callum Kennedy – 11.55

Under-15 Girls

13^th – Laura Harvey – 14.02

Under-17 Girls (7^th team)

13^th – Maddy Vaughan-Johncey – 20.24

14^th – Kirsty Harvey – 20.26

Senior Ladies (2nd team)

13th – Wendy Trueman – 22.05

14^th – Jill Harsent – 22.11

16^th – Nicki Roe – 22.41

17^th – Julie Mead – 22.45

19^th – Annemarie Fachiri – 23.50

Senior Men (3rd team)

13th – Tim Harris – 36.34

15^th – Graham Whiffen – 37.27

21st – Daryl Davies – 38.53

23^rd – Jon Braund – 39.28

33rd – Phil Burgess – 41.40

38^th – Steve Snook – 44.10

41st – Ian Kennedy – 45.25