Hampshire League Race 2 12 November Goodwood
Onwards and upwards.
After a very encouraging
opening Hampshire League meeting in October we arrived at Goodwood
carrying real belief. Weve seen some pretty extreme weather at this
exposed spot over recent years, so to be racing at Goodwood on a warm
November day with little wind was an unexpected bonus.
The first race of the day
was for the under-13 girls. Just as at Farley Mount a month earlier,
this race really lifted the, already buoyant, mood of the team. Grace
Copeland ran a really canny race. She was in contention after one lap,
lying in around 8th place. In the early stages of the next
lap a decisive breakaway saw three runners escape Grace was one of
them. Her well-judged race saw her take second place. We had Maddie
Williams back (having missed Farley Mount) and she recorded a highly
creditable 22nd place and our third team member to score was
Bethan Burley who beat almost half the field. Our girls had bagged a 5th
place in the team event.
Grace on the
first lap, with Maddie in the background.
Callum Kennedy
Next on the bill were the
under-13 boys. We had four runners (only one more than needed to
register a team score), but although we dont have too many racers we do
have some quality here. Piers Copeland, having become the first WAC
athlete to win a race in the Hampshire League last time out, made it two
in a row, with another convincing performance. The form of Tom Bourne is
one of the revelations of the new season, Tom improved on the fine start
he made at the first meeting. Nailing the third and final scoring
position for the team was Tom Boulton we scored a best result yet (in
any age group) of second place for the team. Ryan Longs meteoric rise
through the placings in recent schools cross-country races was repeated
here, 65th in the first race became 39th here.
Piers, on course
for victory.
Callum Kennedy
In the under-15s girls
squad there is a little more strength in depth. Which is just as well as
unfortunately we were missing Sharon Hutchings (who had been one of the
stars at Farley Mount). This time it was Abbie Hine who led the team
home. The positions of Charlotte Bourne and Chloe Morris were reversed
from the previous race, the rivalry between these team mates will
certainly drive both of them on. Ella Hearne and Becca Scooter Skeats
both had their best races for the club so far. Ella is starting to make
inroads on the gap between her and Charlotte and Chloe whilst Scooter is
being swept along by this too.
One of the few
disappointments weve had so far this season is our inability to field
an under-15 boys team. Ryan Walbridge has been an ever-present, but
Jordan Symington who had partnered him at Farley Mount wasnt available
for this one, but we are also looking to field at least one more runner
in this age group. As our sole representative, Ryan gave us plenty to
cheer. Despite not running a tactically brilliant race, he was
outsmarted off the start line, he recovered magnificently to record his
best Hampshire League result yet (5th). The first three
runners in the race had broken away, and Ryan was involved in a battling
sprint to the finish line which saw the next four racers home within two
seconds of each other.
Ryan with
company.
Callum Kennedy
Our only representative in
the under-17s was Callum Kennedy. Of all our runners in the junior races
Callum would have competed more often than anyone in league
cross-country races. The 12th place he claimed here was his
best Hampshire League race yet. Amongst the scalps he claimed on the
day was Rory Bevis of Portsmouth, revenge for having to settle for
second place at Canford to Rory in the Wessex League recently.
Another category we have
often struggled to field a team in is the senior womens race. A quick
look through past results will show you what a magnificent job Lynn
Hutchings has been doing here, but the signs are there that finally some
quality support for Lynn is emerging. It was fantastic to see Rachel
Gladdis returning for her second race in a row in the Hampshire League.
The investment Rachel has made in a pair of XC spikes shows a
declaration of intent. The new shoes and the benefit of some XC
experience saw her gain almost 20 places since her debut a month ago.
Lynn, as usual, was first Wimborne home, and she also made up a good
number of places (7) since the last race.
For the final race of the
day (senior men) we were able to welcome two more WAC XC debutants (Baz
Barry and Andy Olden) and we certainly needed them, as a few of our
regular performers were unavailable. Simon Bourne, Paul Hine and Gerry
Hitchings were all out due to either illness or injury and the guy who
is normally first red shirt home, Graeme Furley, was at his graduation
day at Bournemouth Uni congratulations Graeme. Mark Copeland led our
men home, with Baz only a short distance back. The time gaps seemed to
close up on the day with John Hutchings, Graham Whiffen and Ian Kennedy
all within a minute of each other. Our other debutant Andy brought up
the rear with a pair of very weary raced-out legs after a pretty crazy
personal race calendar he will be faster next time, there is no doubt
about that.
The next Hampshire League
race is at Popham on 3rd December, after witnessing this, we
are very much looking forward to it.
WACers times and results were:
Under-13 Girls (70 finishers) 5th
team on the day
2 Grace Copeland 11:52
22 Maddie Williams 13:23
41 Bethan Burley 14:35
Under-13 Boys (65 finishers)
2nd team on the day
1 Piers Copeland 11:04
6 Tom Bourne 11:23
32 Tom Boulton 12:27
39 Ryan Long 12:41
Under-15 Girls (62 finishers) 8th
team on the day
18 Abbie Hine 16:53
34 Charlotte Bourne 18:03
38 Chloe Morris 18:25
42 Ella Hearne 18:34
50 Rebecca Skeats 19:33
Under-15 Boys (58 finishers)
5 Ryan Walbridge 15:04
Under-17 Boys (36 finishers)
12 Callum Kennedy 16:46
Senior Women (117 finishers)
46 Lynn Hutchings 25:26
78 Rachel Gladdis 28:08
Senior Men (222 finishers) (Wimborne
7th in Div. 2, Wimborne Vets 5th in Div 2)
132 Mark Copeland 36:08
139 Baz Barry 36:41
160 John Hutchings 38:18
169 Graham Whiffen 38:54
177 Ian Kennedy 39:17
190 Andy Olden 41:00
Full results for the Hampshire League
will be found at
www.athletics.hampshire.org.uk/events/hxcl.html
