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Click on photos to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Martyn Loach and Craig Buttivant |
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Click on photos to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Martyn Loach and Craig Buttivant |
A great turnout of 78 Chiltern Harriers at Wing on Sunday kept the pressure on at the top of the table. Chiltern finished in third place overall on the day, only two points behind second placed Milton Keynes. This pushes the club up into fourth place in Division 1 with the final race in the series at Luton on Feb 14th.
The race was a special one, marking the 50th anniversary of the Chiltern League with two runners who competed in the first year in 1959 again tackling the event. Each competitor received a medal to mark the occasion.
Recent cold weather kept conditions hard underfoot, a change from the usual muddy course at Wing and the day was dry, cold and sunny - ideal for good cross country racing.
The senior men fielded a strong team with Eddie O'Gorman, 8th, Fabian Downs, 17th, Matt Bennett, 21st, and Stuart Ellerby, 30th, all to the fore and all ten counters featuring in the top 90. The team finished in fourth place.
Another great turnout from the senior women saw them take third place on the day very close behind winners, Headington Roadrunners, and second placed Milton Keynes. These three teams are now very closely positioned with MK on 1010 points, Headington on 990, and Chiltern on 981 with one race to decide the medals. Laura Butt again featured as the club's leading runner with a strong 8th place. Debbie Wenman was 10th closely followed by Sarah Quantrill in 11th. Ali Young made up the scoring four in 16th spot. Laura, Debbie, Ali and Barbara Ralph in 36th place made up the winning veterans team that are now in an unassailable lead in the league.
The young athletes also had a very good day. Wins for Under 13 Michael Goddard and Under 11 Bill Hughes ensured that they are individual league winners for the season no matter what happens in the final race.
Michael was joined by James McCarthy, 10th, Alex Johnson, 12th, and Andrew Stenning, 15th as the team winning four. The boys are now overall second in the league just behind leaders Windsor with Bedford close behind in third. Again the final race will decide the colour of each team's medals.
The Under 11 boys had their fourth straight win with Bill Hughes 1st, Will Perkin 2nd and David Willcox 13th and now have a 60 point lead going into the last race.
In the older male age groups the Under 15s were 4th with Dan Barraclough, 10th, George Gillingwater 18th, Liam McDonald 21st and Ollie Church 22nd. They are improving as a group and are now 6th overall in the league with most boys again eligible for the age group next year.
The Under 17s saw Allan Stewart 10th, Alex Watson 15th and Dan Loach 17th reach 4th place on the day and are now 5th overall.
The girls also had some great runs. Standout performance of the day came from Under 13 Connie Lewis who had a storming second half of the race to finish 3rd. Also running very well in a team depleted by holidays, injury and illness were Amy Harris, 8th, Rosalind Firth, 18th and Amy Buttivant 34th. These four were third on the day, pushing the team back up into third place overall.
The Under 11 girls were narrowly third with Claire Buttivant, 3rd, Hannah Morton 10th and Robyn Lisle 15th being the scoring three. They are now in second place in the league with strong hopes to finish well amongst the medals.
The final race of the series is on Saturday 14th February at Stockwood Park, Luton and team managers are hoping for a good turnout to ensure a strong finish to the league season.