Callum Kennedy reports.
Goodwood is one of the
longer journeys in the Hampshire League. The event takes place next to
the racecourse. The terrain is hilly and the ground quite hard. The
route goes partly through woodland and there are some sharp corners.
Several of us who walked the route thought the lap seemed longer than at
Farley Mount. The weather was much better than last year because last
time here there was heavy rain.
The first race was the
under-13 girls. Sharon Hutchings was hoping for a good race on her
birthday. It was great to have Abbie Hine running after she had
recovered from illness which meant she couldnt run the previous
weekend. At the start of the race Sharon got boxed in and she had to
work her way through the field, she did well early on but faded as she
is not back to 100% fitness [in fact, Sharon has since been diagnosed
with bronchitis!]. Abbie got stronger the longer the race went on.
A heroic performance from
birthday girl Sharon Hutchings.
The second race was the
under-13 boys race. It was very important having a team because we could
move up the rankings. Ryan Walbridge improved by one place and got his
highest place in a Hampshire League race so far. It was a great team
performance thanks to very strong runs by Jordan Symington and Alex
Diment who both improved massively. This gave the team 5th
place overall in the race, up from 11th at Farley Mount.
Jordan shows great style as
Alex is in hot pursuit.
We also had a strong team
for the under-15 boys race. Me, Lewis Murphy-Parry and Jack Snook ran in
the race making a team. I improved by 10 places making my highest finish
in Hampshire League and I had brilliant support from Jack and Lewis. We
are having a good battle with the under-15 Bournemouth AC team, this
time we finished ahead. We were 7th team on the day.
Callum and Jack were
duelling for position early on.
We then had a break because
we had no under-17 runners. It was a chance for us to give Sharon a cake
and sing Happy Birthday. Then it was time for the senior ladies race.
Lynn Hutchings was the
first lady in and she ran really well. Both Nicki Roe and Maddy Vaughan-Johncey
had problems, Nicki with her breathing and Maddy with her foot. Nicki
recovered from this and finished strongly. Although Maddy managed a
sprint finish, she had a very sore foot.
The last race was the
mens. Graeme Furley was fastest, and there were much improved
performances from Stewart Little, Graham Whiffen, Daryl Davies, Rich
House and Phil Burgess. Our mens team are 3rd in Division 2
and our veteran 2nd in the Vets Division 2.
WACers times and results were:
Under-13 Girls (61 finishers)
16 Sharon Hutchings 13:05
45 Abbie Hine 14:23
Under-13 Boys (70 finishers)
Wimborne 5th team
8 Ryan Walbridge 11:26
29 Jordan Symington 12:19
35 Alex Diment 12:37
Under-15 Boys (58 finishers)
Wimborne 7th team
22 Callum Kennedy 16:23
33 Jack Snook 17:03
37 Lewis Murphy-Parry 17:09
Senior Women (116 finishers) 19th
team
65 Lynn Hutchings 26:59
80 Nicki Roe 28:30
100 Maddy Vaughan-Johncey 31:05
Senior Men (252 finishers) (Wimborne
3rd in Div. 2, Wimborne Vets 2nd in Div 2)
87 Graeme Furley 33:16
118 Stewart Little 34:40
147 Jerry Shield 35:56
155 Graham Whiffen 36:15
170 Craig Dixon 37:07
174 Daryl Davies 37:17
201 Rich House 39:17
224 Phil Burgess 42:03
231 Ian Kennedy 42:47
239 Steve Snook 48:38
Full results for the Hampshire League
will be found at
www.athletics.hampshire.org.uk/events/hxcl.html
