South of England XC Championships, Stanmer Park 28 January
Charlotte Bourne reports from Brighton.
Ready for the off, the start line
and almost the only flat part of the
course!
The clubs first time at this course in Brighton turned out to be a
fantastic day with an exciting course composing of various types of
hills and a super flat finish after a long down hill run.
The first race was the under-15 boys where Ryan Walbridge came a
fantastic 36th place out of a field of 211 in a time of
16:05. Unfortunately we did not have a team in this age category, but
there are hopes for the future as many will be moving up an age category
for next year.
Ryan targets the
black vest ahead of him.
Then came the under-13 girls race with Grace Copeland finishing in joint
15th with a girl from West Sussex in a time of 11:34, only 1
minute and 28 seconds behind first place and the youngest in the age
category. Next in was Maddie Williams with a brilliant time of 12:57
finishing 133rd with a total of 218 in their race.
Amazing Grace.
As soon as the under-13 girls had finished it was on to the boys of the
same age group with Piers Copeland racing through the finish line at a
time of 10:32 in 7th place, even though he had a tendon
injury, and recording our best placing of the day. Soon after Tom Bourne
passes the finish line in a time of 11:03 in 31st place, he
is looking forward to improving even more in the future as he still has
another year in this age category. Next in was Tom Boulton with a time
of 12:25 finishing 144th and soon after Ryan Long crossed the
line in a time of 12:47 in 162nd position. As we have a very
strong under-13 boys category Wimborne finished with a team score of 14th
place out of 25 clubs beating Aldershot & Farnham District!
Piers has the
race leaders in his sights with a lap to go.
At 11:50 am the under-15 girls race commenced over a 4km distance of two
medium laps. First in was Sharon Hutchings in 42nd with an
amazing time of 15:44, then soon in behind was Abbie Hine finishing in a
time of 16:28 in 76th place. Next came Ella Hearne (who has
improved dramatically throughout her first season) at 130th
in a time of 17:26, then Charlotte Bourne 132nd in 17:27, a
second later. Soon after Chloe Morris came in with a time of 17:49
finishing 148th, then Scooter (Becca Skeats) crossed the line
in at 175th with a time of 18:43. Just as with the under-13
boys we also have a very strong and competitive under-15 girls category,
we finished 16th team.
A single second
separated Ella and Charlotte after 4k of racing.
Then the under-17 race began with Wimbornes only under-17 Callum
Kennedy who finished in an amazing 32nd place with a time of 20:50. Just
like the under-15 boys we did not have enough for a team, but there we
fantastic races by both Ryan and Callum.
Callum powers up the gradient.
There was a short break for us as we did not have anyone in the under-20
category. For the senior women, Lynn our most experienced racer, was
laid low with a heavy cold so didnt run, which left Claire Scammell our
sole representative. Claire has run into a purple patch, with recent PBs
in road races. That fine form continued here
easily her best
cross-country race so far.
A great run from
Claire in the womens race.
We then looked forward to the senior mens race where competition was
extremely high. Herds of men charged towards the start line and our four
brave runners took their places, the gun went and a storm of men raced
past in what seemed like thousands, but was only 745, near a thousand
anyway. The mens race consisted of a 15km course of 1 small lap and 3
large with a hill which seemed to never end. First in was Mark Copeland
sprinting hard along the straight to the finish line in an outstanding
time of 1:09:01 in 458th place. Next in was Ian Kennedy who
has improved vastly through the season he finished 620th in
an impressive time of 1:16:43. Soon after came in Gerry Hutchings with a
fantastic time of 1:18:56 in 650th and then came in Simon
Bourne with an amazing time of 1:20:03, in 667th. For such a
long race the times recorded were outstanding.
Mark Copeland
leads this group up the climb.
Wimborne had a fantastic day and therefore look forward to the Nationals
at Parliament Hill with more records to break and times to beat.
WACers times and
results were:
Under-15 Boys
(4500m)
36 Ryan Walbridge
16:05
Under-13 Girls
(3000m)
16 Grace Copeland
11:34
133 Maddie Williams 12:57
Under-13 Boys
(3000m)
7 Piers Copeland
10:32
31 Tom Bourne 11:03
144 Tom Boulton 12:25
162 Ryan Long 12:47
Under-15 Girls
(4000m)
42 Sharon
Hutchings 15:44
76 Abbie Hine 16:28
130 Ella Hearne 17:26
132 Charlotte Bourne 17:27
148 Chloe Morris 17:49
175 Rebecca Skeats 18:43
Under-17 Boys
(6000m)
32 Callum Kennedy
21:50
Senior Women
(8000m)
240 Claire
Scammell (out of 335 runners)
Senior
Men (15000m)
458 Mark Copeland
69:01
620 Ian Kennedy 76:43
650 Gerry Hutchings 78:56
667 Simon Bourne 80:03
