Report from the Wessex League at Canford Heath
Our victorious women’s team, with under-17 Lucy
High winds and heavy rainfall overnight preceded our first league fixture of the 2019/2020 season. Things had calmed down a little by race time, and at the relatively sheltered course at Canford Heath, despite occasional rain, there was the feeling that we’d dodged a bullet weather-wise. Some 40 Wimborne athletes took part including a considerable number, particularly in the under-11s races, making their WAC cross-country debuts.
It was the under-11s races that got us underway, with more than 70 runners over the two starts. We were thrilled to be fielding nine girls in this age-group. No-one who was at Black Hill the previous week would have been surprised that Evie Fuller was our first girl home. Evie, despite still being an under-11, has lots of valuable experience of cross-country and used it to good effect. There was an eye-catching performance from Lavender West who although young in the age-group claimed an impressive 10th place. For most of the team this was a big step up, the furthest many have run previously in competition in WAC colours is the 600m that forms part of the Quadkids competition. This under-11s race was unusually long so didn’t particularly suit our rookies, most under-11s races are less than 2km, this one was 2.3km. This pushed some outside their comfort zones, but our girls showed terrific resolve and gained valuable experience. We only had two under-11 boys on show – Alex Koybayashi and Freddy Furber. Both were making WAC XC debuts, with Alex in particular mixing it with some far more experienced runners.
U11 girls (39 finishers)
5 – Evie Fuller – 9:58
10 – Lavender West – 10:27
22 – Jolie Dalton – 11:21
24 – Olivia Jones – 11:30
27 – Esther Brooks – 11:38
29 – Jenny Charlwood – 11:41
31 – Isabelle Fazakerley – 12:18
32 – Myla McNeil – 12:27
39 – Ophelia Martin – 13:15
U11 boys (36 finishers)
14 – Alex Koybayashi – 9:56
32 – Freddy Furber – 11:35
India West emulated her sister’s 10th place, as she led home our under-13 girls team. Imogen Rawles and Gracie Bunting claimed the other scoring positions, with Ella Fazakerley completing our team. There’s a good deal of promise here, as all except are India are competing ‘year young’.
U13 girls (41 finishers)
10 – India West – 14:27
15 – Imogen Rawles – 14:51
20 – Gracie Bunting – 15:05
30 – Ella Fazakerley– 16:21
The Williams brothers, having run so well at Black Hill the previous week, were expected to lead our team home. Things didn’t go exactly to plan, Jack claimed a hard-earned 5th place, but Tom had to withdraw, while being well-placed, feeling unwell. With Tom’s withdrawal this meant that both Noah Dance and Jack Doran’s result were going to be important for recording a team score. Noah, who pulled on a red vest for the first time the previous weekend, was running his first league race.
U13 boys (29 finishers)
5 – Jack Williams – 12:22
24 – Noah Dance – 15:29
28 – Jack Doran – 16:08
The next start was the combined under-17s (men and women) and senior women’s race. All started with a small lap, the under-17s then did two large laps, and for the senior women they had three large laps. This start brought our biggest team successes. Lucy Lockwood was our sole under-17 woman. In mixed-gender starts it’s all too easy to get pulled along too quickly, and Lucy went off fast in the early stages. This made the later stages tough for her, but she is a very resilient character and she dug in and claimed a very respectable 7th place. Expect Lucy to build on the experience gained here in future races. With just one under-17 there was no possibility of recording a team score, but the other categories on this start were to produce our best team results of the day.
U17 women (12 finishers)
7 – Lucy Lockwood – 18:55
Our under-17 men really did look like a team, with a cluster of red vests running in close proximity for much of the race. Despite having five in the first 11, we were only second team. This is because in the under-17 category alone, only two scorers are required (we must get some support for Lucy). Ben Martin and Charlie Davies were duking it to be Wimborne’s ‘top dog’, but it was Ben that found something extra in those final stages. There was a particularly strong run from Ollie Rawles, both he and Tom Fuller were running ‘year young’. Josh Jack completed our line-up. Our team was narrowly beaten for top spot by Bournemouth AC.
U17 men (13 finishers)
4 – Ben Martin – 14:58
6 – Charlie Davies – 15:09
8 – Ollie Rawles – 15:27
10 – Tom Fuller – 15:37
11 – Josh Jack – 16:10
While our under-17 men were second team, our women went one better and claimed a win. We needed three to count here, so everyone’s result was going to matter. Our women’s team has seen an injection of youth and was spearheaded by very strong runs from under-20s Minty Stubbs and Hannah Slater. The race winner was Daisy Davies of Wells who broke away, and this left Minty to fight a fantastic duel for 2nd/3rd positions with Lisa Elmore of Bournemouth. Minty, as is her way, gave it everything and claimed 2nd place. This was backed up with a fabulous free-running return to form for the ever-smiling Hannah Slater. The team score was now dependent on how Tara Green performed. No worries … surely this day produced one of Tara’s very best (perhaps the best?) performances yet in a red vest.
Senior women (36 finishers)
2 – Minty Stubbs – 26:18
4 – Hannah Slater – 26:51
14 – Tara Green – 29:32
The under-15s race is one of those where the boys and girls go off the same start, so the girls have to be careful to run their own race, so they don’t run out of gas in the latter stages. Boys and girls covered the same distance, some 3800m. Leading the girls home was Sarah Graham and both Kate Simmonds and Ruby Sergeant’s results were important to us as it gave us team results. To be in with a shout at the end of the season in the team category we need scores in three of the four races.
U15 girls (21 finishers)
5 – Sarah Graham – 16:19
19 – Kate Simmonds – 18:50
20 – Ruby Sargeant – 21:01
Jay Dunn is looking one of the most improved runners over recent months in training, so there was little surprise that it was Jay leading the team home. Last year over the same course and in much better conditions, he recorded a time of 16 minutes dead. Despite the wind and rain he had found more than a minute and a half this time around. Both Josh Fazakerley and Jago Smith had stepped up an age-group since last year and they completed our team score.
U15 boys (22 finishers)
7 – Jay Dunn – 14:23
18 – Josh Fazakerley – 16:15
21 – Jago Smith – 17:37
A new name on the team sheet for us was Damian Huntingford, and he certainly made an impact. Damian recorded a top 10 finish in his first WAC XC event. Daryl Davies was our next home and he’s our ‘prodigal son’. He was a very important member of our youth cross-country team in the early 2000s and he’s returned as a second-claimer for this cross-country season. Red’s a colour that suits him, it’s great to have him back. There’s a narrow line between heroism and madness and it’s possible that Rob Rawles and Pete Kingswell-Farr may have crossed it. They produced highly respectable runs in this Wessex fixture, despite both running a 31 mile race the previous day which took in part of the South West Coast Path from Lulworth to Osmington in blustery conditions. If you’ve ever walked that route you’ll know how big a challenge that is. Respect. Brendan Dunn, like a few in our senior team, including Rob and Pete, got drawn into XC running because of their kids and Brendan continues to improve year on year … and we can now welcome Seamus Doran to that particular club. He competing for WAC in his first XC race at Canford Heath. The team was completed by Richard Davies, Rich ran out of gas in the latter stages, but we all know his contribution to Wimborne’s XC team reaches far beyond the results he records in races.
Senior men (58 finishers)
9 – Damian Huntingford – 31:05
25 – Daryl Davies – 34:36
31 – Rob Rawles – 36:47
34 – Pete Kingswell-Farr – 37:08
39 – Brendan Dunn – 39:20
47 – Seamus Doran – 40:33
51 – Richard Davies – 43:31
That’s race one done. A big thank you to Paul Hine on his cross-country team manager’s debut. It was great to see so many new faces. We’ve got a few who weren’t at Canford Heath that we’re looking forward to welcoming back to competitive XC action in subsequent XC races.
