What a difference a week
makes! WACers were greeted by glorious sunshine on the morning of this
race although it was bitterly cold. Sadly illness and injury left the
team a little depleted.
The Hampshire League
continues to delight and Overton was another cracking course. Where the
River Test lazily meanders alongside the course the ground was very wet
and boggy but there were also a couple of challenging climbs to tackle
too.
Sharon Hutchings (u13) was
our first runner of the day. Her fine run at Kings Park the previous
weekend gave her a tremendous boost and she ran with real confidence to
record her best Hampshire League performance of the season so far.
Next off the start line was
Callum Kennedy (u15). After a steady start Callum got stronger the
longer the race continued and made up a number of places during a very
determined run.
Maddy Vaughan-Johncey (u17)
was next. The continuing improvements in her endurance were clear for
all to see.
It was great to welcome
cross-country stalwart Jill Harsent back for her first league race of
the season. This challenging course was very much to her liking as she
made steady progress through the field. Unfortunately Jill was our only
Senior Woman. This race being the most adversely affected by absentees.
We managed a good number of
runners in the mens race but one of our absentees was Colin Read who
had been first WACer home in the first two Hampshire League races.
Another points scorer in earlier races Richard Atkins was also
unavailable. Our men stepped up to the plate though and finished third
team in our division on the day, which keeps us in second place in the
league. Graeme put in another bionic performance and he had great
back-up from Stewart Little, Graham Whiffen and Guy Thompson. The rest
of the team were in the business of gaining as many places over other
teams runners as possible.
WACers times and results were:
Under-13 Girls
27 Sharon Hutchings 8:56
Under-15 Boys
44 Callum Kennedy 16:30
Under-17 Women
13 Maddy Vaughan-Johncey 17:18
Senior Women
81 Jill Harsent 32:15
Senior Men (3rd team)
68 Graeme Furley 33:02
93 Stewart Little 34:18
129 Graham Whiffen 36:04
130 Guy Thompson 36:05
163 Ian Kennedy 38:41
177 Jeff Hinsley 39:39
191 Danny Symington 41:26
195 Steve Snook 41:34
196 Phil Burgess 41:35
207 Paul Hine 43:26
