Wessex League Race 1 – 30 October – Canford
New season, new venue, new
faces.
A damp but warm day greeted
us for the opening Wessex League race of the season. Although the
course at Canford has been used for the Dorset County Championships in
the past, I am not sure if it has ever been used as a Wessex League
venue previously. For the vast majority of the runners it would be a
‘first’, and of course all were greeted by the fantastic setting that
the school’s grounds present. A big ‘Thank you’ is due to Mark Burley,
head of PE, who made this fabulous venue available to us, and also to
the school’s groundsmen who marked out (and later dismantled) the
course.
The course itself is a fast
one, being almost flat. The only sting in the tail being a set of steps
in the woods which, coming after a very fast section on grass, seem like
very hard work. While much of the route is on a beautiful grassy
surface, there is just enough of the route on harder stonier tracks to
lead most runners to opt for studs or training shoes in preference to
their spikes.
The start/finish was
located in front of the cricket pavilion. This two-storey building with
its upstairs balcony offered a great view of proceedings and served as
our grandstand, as well as providing some much needed shelter.
The Wessex League was
inaugurated in 1971, and 40 years-on here we were at Canford for the
start of another season. Appropriately, prior to racing, Pete Clarke,
President of Dorset County Athletics Association, said a few words to
mark the occasion, these were greeted with warm applause.
The first race of the day
was the under-17s/under-20s/seniors. With all those age groups going off
together there were almost 50 runners at the start line. All were set to
do the northern loop first, and then the under-17s and all the women
would do one full ‘blue’ lap (4.8k), while the under-20 men and senior
men would run a second blue lap bringing their distance up to just over
8k. The Wimborne contingent for this race was very much made up of the
‘usual suspects’, with the exception of Dave Brylewski who was making
his XC debut for us. Hopefully this race will prove to be his first of
many. Having the ‘grandstand’ meant that the spectators were largely
confined to one area, this gave a great atmosphere as the runners went
past having completed their lap. The next time around the under-17s and
women would peel off to the finish line. On the next lap the first red
shirts came into view – Callum Kennedy just in front of Graeme Furley.
Callum made for the finish line (coming second under-17, behind Rory
Bevis of Portsmouth), while Graeme set off for his final lap. The first
of our women home was Lynn Hutchings (3rd) and she had
support from Paula Hine, we needed one more lady to make up a team,
something to push for at the next Wessex race. With Graeme leading the
charge, the other points scorers for the men’s team were Mark Copeland
and John Hutchings. The team came second overall. Our Vets team also
came second with Mark our first to score, supported by Rich House and
Graham Whiffen. Graham managed to turn the tables on Simon Bourne who
had got the better of him at Farley Mount a few weeks back.
Uncharacteristically Gerry Hutchings was our last man in, struggling
with an injury.
The next race was the
under-11s. Wimborne AC have long valued the under-11s race in the Wessex
League as it gives the opportunity to give our youngest distance runners
meaningful competition not available in other cross-country leagues.
Some of those who have represented us well in this race in the past are
now well-established in the older age-group races. It’s pleasing to see
that more clubs are recognising the chance it gives their youngest
athletes too. The success of the under-11s race brought with it its own
problems, the number of entrants compared to the corresponding race last
season had almost doubled. This led to a severely congested start line.
If we are lucky enough to use Canford next season we will need to have a
wider start line. After one false start 60 runners took off around the
two lap course. This race made a great spectacle as all of the course
could be seen from our ‘grandstand’, and it was quite an interesting
route for the runners, being along a track along one side, skirting the
trees along the next, then through the ornamental gardens on the third
length, before heading down the home straight past the cheering crowd
before heading off for a second lap. It’s just great to see so many
young runners out there clearly enjoying themselves. Of the seven
Wimborne athletes out there, only Freddie Williams had raced for us
before in cross-country. The big success story from this race was 9
year-old Max Meadwell who showed in the race what we have all seen in
training. After around 1400m he finished 8th, just 8 seconds
down on the race winner. Representing Wimborne for the first time were
friends Edward Gilbert (son of senior WAC roadrunner Eric) and Dylan
Williams, plus sisters Bethany and Isobel Kingswell-Farr. Well done to
all of you, we hope to see you at the next Wessex League race. The big
disappointment of the day was seeing Alex Daplyn pull out with an
injured knee, like Max she displays terrific promise in training and it
is a great shame she wasn’t able to show this on the day. Fingers
crossed we get Alex back fitter and stronger in time for the next Wessex
League race at the end of November.
The under-13 girls and boys race was
the next to form on the start line. This was another chaotic start. We
had strong girls’ and boys’ teams. Piers Copeland made a little bit of
club history a few weeks back when he became the first Wimborne runner
to win a Hampshire League race, that form would suggest that he would
start the race as favourite. The clubs we compete against in the
Hampshire League overlap those in the Wessex, but one non-Hampshire
League runner who fancied his own chances was Mendip AC’s Finlay Marsh.
Finlay took the win, but it was ‘Mr 110%’, Tom Bourne, who was pushing
him all the way to the line, with Piers having to settle for third with
Tom Boulton 4th. Ryan Long is in his first cross-country
season, and every time he races he improves significantly – he claimed 6th.
All this meant a convincing win for our U13 boys’ team. The girls’ race
was even more competitive with Bridgit Dence of Bournemouth AC taking
the honours. Grace was our first runner home in 4th position.
The time Grace recorded saw her come in ahead of all but three of the
boys. It’s terrific to see such quality competition in the Wessex League
amongst the girls. Around a minute back from Grace was Maddie Williams
in 7th, and Bethan Burley and Pippa Hine continued their
ongoing rivalry in 11th and 14th positions
respectively.
The final race of the day was the
under-15s. Due to issues with the congested starts, the start point for
this race was moved. The runners were to do one lap of the 700m short
loop before heading off on the long lap – a distance of 4k. For the
girls this is one of our strongest age-groups, and it showed in the race
results. Of the first ten girls home six were Wimborne runners. Despite
dominating the head of the field we didn’t, however, take the individual
victory. This race was won by an imperious performance from Poole AC’s
Lizzie Hood. For Wimborne another reversal of recent form saw Abbie Hine
head Sharon Hutchings home, likewise with Charlotte Bourne and Chloe
Morris. Ella Hearne claimed the next finishing position, meanwhile
Scooter continues to improve and probably ran her best race for us so
far and claimed 10th place. The under-15s boys’ race was
another that saw real quality throughout the field. Ryan Walbridge ran
an excellent second place, while the hardworking Jordan Symington also
had a fine run and is closing the time-gap on his team mate.
Unfortunately with only two runners boys in this race we didn’t record a
team score.
Wimborne AC played a significant role
in hosting the event, and a huge vote of thanks should go out to all who
volunteered to marshal on the day – we couldn’t have done it without you
– thank you all very, very much. Thanks to Megan Burley and Tim
Walbridge who shared the team manager’s job for the day and everyone
else for their support. There is a terrific team spirit in the WAC
cross-country camp and the support that is freely given to each other is
a significant factor in the progress we are all making. Let’s carry this
level of energy and enthusiasm through to the end of the season and
beyond. In all we had 33 Wimborne racers, significantly more than in the
corresponding fixture last year. Despite that there are still some
runners who I would have liked to see racing who weren’t there. Perhaps
next time – Goodwood (12 November HXC) or Salisbury (27 November, WXC).
WACers times and results were:
Under-17 Boys (8 finishers)
2 – Callum Kennedy – 16:19
Senior Women (7 finishers)
3 – Lynn Hutchings – 20:02
6 – Paula Hine – 25:56
Senior Men (26 finishers) (Wimborne
2nd team, Wimborne 2nd Vets team)
5 – Graeme Furley – 29:13
11 – Mark Copeland – 33:05
13 – John Hutchings – 33:54
14 – Rich House – 34:18
18 – Graham Whiffen – 35:26
19 – Dave Brylewski – 35:29
22 – Simon Bourne – 37:03
24 – Gerry Hutchings – 39:59
Under-11s (59 finishers) – 6th
team
8 – Max Meadwell – 4:42
24 – Freddie Williams – 5:07
37 – Edward Gilbert – 5:18
45 – Dylan Williams – 5:31
51 – Bethany Kingswell-Farr – 5:54
56 – Isobel Kingswell-Farr – 6:07
Under-13 Girls (21 finishers) –
2nd team on the day
4 – Grace Copeland – 13:33
7 – Maddie Williams – 14:34
11 – Bethan Burley – 15:27
14 – Pippa Hine – 16:01
Under-13 Boys (11 finishers) –
1st team on the day
2 – Tom Bourne – 12:27
3 – Piers Copeland – 12:31
4 – Tom Boulton – 13:35
6 – Ryan Long – 14:04
Under-15 Girls (15 finishers) –
1st team on the day
2 – Abbie Hine – 16:14
3 – Sharon Hutchings – 16:21
5 – Charlotte Bourne – 17:19
6 – Chloe Morris – 17:39
7 – Ella Hearne – 18:09
10 – Rebecca Skeats – 19:32
Under-15 Boys (7 finishers)
2 – Ryan Walbridge – 14:00
6 – Jordan Symington – 14:32
Full results for the Wessex League will
be found at
www.wessexleague.com
