Chiltern Harriers returned to Stowe School last Saturday, 7 January, after contesting the Bucks County Champs there before Christmas. This time they contested the fourth race in the Chiltern Cross-Country League and came away with a fourth place finish on the day and fourth place in the league table, with one race to go.
As readers may recall, there has been a continuing struggle for third place in the league. A narrow margin of points separates the three clubs of Harrow AC, Vale of Aylesbury and Chiltern Harriers. This was not Harrow AC's day. They managed only seventh position on the day and consequently dropped from third to fifth in the over-all placings, moving Chiltern up to fourth place with 9368 points. In third place are Vale of Aylesbury with 9458 points and above them are Bedford and County, who finished top on the day and gave themselves a clear lead over Vale of Aylesbury with 10339 points. Marshall Milton Keynes have sealed their top spot with 11022 points. Marshall Milton Keynes changed their name from plain Milton Keynes on January 1st. As Press Officer Ian Russ explained:- "The change reflects a sponsorship deal with Marshall Amplification Ltd (who also sponsor MK Dons football team), who are the provider of amplifiers and speakers to most of the worlds top pop groups."
Chiltern fielded a large team of men and women, seniors, juniors and vets. The Senior Men finished sixth on the day and the Senior Women finished third. The Men's Vets finished in fifth place and the Women's Vets took a good second behind Windsor S.,E., & H. Chiltern Harriers best runner and Bucks County Champ, Owain Jones, was second in the race but, unfortunately not counted in the league placings as he is only second claim with Chiltern - Southampton being his first club. First in the Chiltern team was Tom Beedell coming back very strongly to finish 25th in 34m:13s. Stuart Ellerby has been running very well lately but unluckily had to withdraw with a knee injury during the race and did not finish. The rest of the ten-man team comprised Eddie O'Gorman (38th in 35:31), Kingsley Nanton (43rd in 35m:43), Derek Brown (45th in 35m:52s), Fabian Downs (46th in 35m:57s), P. Wallace (62nd in 36m:49s), John Tweddle (66th in 37m:05s), Tony Sheldon (67th in 37m:09s), Richard Walsh (71st in 37m:20s) and Nigel Derby (93rd in 39m:09s).
The third-placed Women's team comprised Cath Holloway (11th in 26m:51), Laura Butt, who ran an excellent race to finish just 3 seconds behind Cath in 12th place, Sandra Reynolds (17th in 24m:45s) and Claire Stubbings (27th in 30m:43s). The Veteran Ladies were almost the same team, but with Laura Butt replaced by Barbara Ralph (43rd in 33m:00s). They came second behind Windsor S,E, & H.
Team Captain Gary Walford summarised the day:- "We did very well to secure fourth place today, considering our best runner did not finish. We are two hundred points ahead of fifth-placed Harrow, which is not quite enough to secure fourth place. But we're more interested in what's ahead of us. Vale of Aylesbury are just 90 points ahead, which is an average score for one runner on the day. We can take third if we get a good team for the last race and every runs well." The last race is at Wing on February 11th.