Hampshire League Race 2  – 8 November – Goodwood 

After an encouraging start to the season we were looking forward to this meeting. Trudi Carter was at the wheel of the team bus from QE and another full carload travelled from Blandford, while others arrived independently. The journey along the motorway towards Goodwood was in driving rain but by the time we arrived at the course, this had abated and we managed to erect our tent in dry weather. The tent was to prove a major asset.

We were down on numbers in our junior ranks but those who were there gave a great account of themselves and this included a very promising debut from Jordan Symington. There were also cross-country debuts from Lyn Hutchings, Danny Symington and Paul Grist. The race was definitely a toughy - it couldn’t be described as a baptism of fire, far too wet for that!

The course itself was partly in the open on the wind-exposed Downs and then on footpaths into woodlands with some quite steep inclines/descents. The junior races were run in half-decent conditions – just cold and windy. Yes, this was real cross-country weather, not at all like what we saw at Farley Mount! As the senior women lined up the rain became torrential, in the first 20 minutes of their race they got absolutely soaked. Our team supporters sheltered in the tent, only running out in the open at the appropriate moment to shout our encouragement as they passed on each lap. Nicki Roe is in a rich vein of form at the moment and this was probably her best race yet in a red shirt. All our ladies finished strongly.

With such heavy rainfall the conditions underfoot were becoming progressively worse. The rain had passed by the time the men’s race started, but the paths through the woods had become absolutely treacherous. At least one of our men’s team ended up on his backside in the slippery conditions. It wasn’t going to be the sort of race you could negotiate safely in road shoes. Leading the way for us once again was ‘Speedy’ Ready, but the rate of progress ‘Bionic’ Graeme Furley continues to make is astounding. These two are going to have some real tussles later in the season – which will be very good news for the team scores. Stewart Little took the final scoring place for the team and these excellent performances leave WAC in second place in our league table. In the vets league we lie in 7^th position (out of 20). There were battling performances all round.

Steve Snook missed this race as a competitor as he was coaching at QE in the morning and was also nursing a knee injury. He arrived in time to photograph the senior races and his photographs can be viewed by clicking here.

It was a challenging course in challenging conditions, but if it was easy where would the sense of achievement be in having completed it!

WACers times were:

Under-13 Girls

32 – Sharon Hutchings – 11:30

Under-13 Boys

49 – Jordan Symington – 13:29

Under-15 Boys

41 – Callum Kennedy – 17:54

Senior Women

90 – Nicki Roe – 28:05

105 – Trudi Carter – 30:01

111 – Kim Jolliffe – 30:50

115 – Lyn Hutchings – 31:34

120 – Claire Newby – 32:20

Senior Men

  62 – Colin Read – 33:19

 72 – Graeme Furley – 33:39

101 – Stewart Little – 35:01

148 – Graham Whiffen – 37:11

196 – Ian Kennedy – 40:21

205 – Jeff Hinsley – 42:05

234 – Gerry Hutchings – 44:56

239 – Danny Symington – 45:32

248 – Paul Grist – 49:15