The race was very tough with competitors slipping and sliding everywhere on drenched clay which stuck to your shoes making them weigh a ton. Duncan said it was the hardest race he had ever done! The elevation profile is shown below. Results: Susanna Harrison 3.42.10, Michelle Oldham 3.43.40, Kim Warner 3.55.03, Andy Smith 4.03.00 Duncan Irvine 4.17.33, Ramona 4.23.30 and Sarah Vaughan 4.23.30.

The weather continuing to be yucky. But out of our seven members Jo Rodriguez ran a PB time of 18.30 and finished as 1st lady and 18th o/a. First home was Paul Dennis in 7th place with a time of 17.33, then Jo 30 seconds in front of Bernie Mulvaney who was 28th in 18.58, Sarah Vaughan in 245th in 24.27, Pauline Mulvaney and Ramona Thevenet Smith ran together for exactly for the same time of 24 minutes and 54 secs and finished with Pauline 264th and Ramona 265th place.
Gentleman Andy Smith ran one second slower in 24.55 but dragged behind to finish 266th. Fiona Bishop making a serious attempt to return to training and to compete in more running events was 325th in 26.12. Jo was the only one to achieve the club standard (19.11).

The only result I have was in the AW and was Ramona Thevenet Smith 1st 0/50 in a time of 22.39. Ramona inside the club standard of 22.50.

We had four members running around the beautiful area of Bookham. Mike Warner was home in 52.20, followed by Brother Kim in 54.37, then Christina Clarke in 64.59. And Jo Baldwin in 77.15. This is an area that does not matter whatever way you turn there is a hill but the course can be scenic and Muddy.

I predicted two years ago the amount of people in the area attempting to keep fit by running/jogging by entering the 5K Bushy Park Trials would reach the 1000 mark in five years time. I am getting more confident with the entry being 614 it seems incredible. And there are still 3 years remaining.
The winning male today clocked 15.37. The first lady was international Emma Pallant in 4th place o/a and clocked 17.47 (both elite athletes). Our Paul Dennis finished 2nd o/a (two in front of Emma) in a time of 17.34 just outside his best that he ran last week. Then Ramona Thevenet Smith just having a run to prepare herself for the afternoon’s Surrey Ladies XC match at Wimbledon that she was running. Ramona finished 195th in 23.21. Then seven places back was Andy Smith who was also running in the afternoon in the Surrey Men’s XC match also at Wimbledon (different area). Today Andy was 213 in 23.29.
Sarah Vaughan another running in the Surrey Ladies XC league at 12.00 noon 3 hours after the start of the Bushy event. Sarah finished 313th in a time of 25.05. about the halfway position.

The rerun following the postponement of the event because of the snow in January caused more upsets than first thought. It was the final week-end of the school half-term holidays and many seniors and their children go away on holiday and do not return until late Sat. /Sun. And many athletes had entered races prior to the cancellation of the event in January. We were very much affected. The senior ladies had 13 entered and only three were available today. The senior men had 1 (one) running. And not one of our age groups had a complete team out. And myself missing the first championships in forty years (Aahh!). So unable to comment on any performances.
Girls U/13 Two of Dave Middletons’s regular three competed and Kaitlin Howard was 13th in 16.14 and Megan Brooke 23rd in 17.04. Louise Mills was away skiing.
The winner ran 14.44 and 56 finished. Well done to Kaitlin and Megan.
No U/15/17/20s
Senior Ladies: Not enough to make complete team as we only had three competing. First to finish was our XC in-form club athlete Anna Sharpe and maintaining her excellent performances over the season today by finishing 10th in 34.16. Our next two to finish Ramona Thevenet Smith and Sarah Vaughan who both had their usual warm-up by running the Bushy Park 5k in the morning turned out hoping they would help make a complete team. Sarah also building up miles for her Lake Windermere Marathon and Ramona getting back to 100% fitness. Ramona finished 45th in 40.04 and Sarah was 54th in 45.28.
The winner was Sophie Morris in 30.32.

U/13 Boys: Only two lads Daniel Johnson and Joshua Rainier were in action. Daniel came 52nd in 17.03 and Joshua was 61st in 18.15. The winner ran 13.20 and 66 finished.
U/15 Boys: Again only two were running. And first home Jacob Rainier was 13th in 15.38 and Harry Knights was just behind in 16th place in 15.55. The winner ran 14.22 and 42 finished.
U/17 Boys: Luke Hearn was 27th in 32.14 and Jake Leonard finishing just one place and one second behind in 28th with a time of 32.15. The winner ran 26.15 and 32 finished.
Senior Men: Just rejoined the club after a year’s absence and a very talented athlete Stephen Blake.
Unfortunately he was our lone entry so a little disappointed not having any other team members around
but I don’t think that would affect Stephen’s performance as he will give 100% plus when racing.
It’s in his make-up and he loves to compete. A very strong XC runner and also class performer on the track over 800 through to 5000m and has gained many valuable points through-out the year for the club while with us. And I can already see Craig Holder making a note of his return. Stephen not back to racing fitness yet finished 35th in 46.14. Welcome back Stephen.

A different area of the common from the men but the HILL’S were just as steep. Thanks to Neil Henderson who went along as the clubs nominated official. Neil was chief time keeper and had the mammoth job of timing 297 senior ladies crossing the finish line. Including our six members Just enough for a full team. We had no entries in the U/20/17/15s. But we did have the same three tough U/13 girls competing as in the previous meetings. And they have had some really tough weather conditions to cope with in their first season. Dave Middleton’s persuasion and their parents support helping them every time. The parents also happily braved the bad weather too. Well done.
In the U/13 race there were 35 entries and they had to climb the same very long very steep hill once that the seniors ran up twice. And all three managed the hill comfortably without struggling and not looking fatigued and finished in good shape. Ending their first season of XC running gathering good experience. Kaitlin Howard was 5th with a time of 13.42 very closely followed by Megan Brooke 7th in 14.01, then Louise Mills 28th in 15.48 and a vital team scorer that enabled the U/13s to finish 5th position in their section out of 18 teams. Well done everyone.
The senior girl’s team are really looking very strong even with missing members. And with plenty of incidents among our girls it had no affect on them getting focused for the race. I arrived about the same time as Anna and Rose in plenty of time and also finding a parking spot very quickly and handy. We then followed 3 athletes through the common. After 10 minutes they turned around and ask us the way?
As 6 heads are better than 3 so we all changed direction. Then spotting another larger group so we followed and this time we were on a winner and were nice and early to pick a nice spot with plenty of space for baggage and changing. We were then spotted by the girl’s friends from Runnymede and B.A. making it a friendly and chatty base camp (They kicked me out).
As time rolled by Anna/Rose were wondering where the remainder of the team were. Captain for the day Ramona and Sarah were dropped off by their driver at the wrong venue and were stranded 2 miles away with their holdalls weighing about ½ cwt. As Ramona had the team sheet they both started running towards the correct area. They arrived just making the start and really warmed-up. Handing the team sheet to Anna (while putting their shoes on) who quickly did the necessary team declaration. But! while Ramona/Sarah were dashing across the common. Jenna and Kay being a little late were flying along the A3 when this big tall handsome policeman stopped them (He had a job catching them up). Quick thinking Kay/Jenna gave him a big smile and with tears running down their cheeks flickered their eye lids saying they were late for a XC meeting, and all was forgiven. His knees weakened and he just gave them a lecture (with tears rolling down his cheeks). Both arrived in time. Well done girls.
I then saw them both speeding around the course completely ignoring the “Bobby’s” lecture.
All our six girls were ready for battle among the other 291. The start is wide enough but too short in distance to stretch the runners out before going downhill along 6 foot wide track so unless up front you cannot pass with ease. Then still slopping down the course ran alongside football pitches that were very wet, muddy and slippery but you could overtake if you wished. This spread the runners out a bit before turning into a wooded track for 800m before ascending the long steep hill back to the start area to continue the second lap. I waited near the top of the hill (I’m not that silly) and on the first lap Anna Sharpe came up in the front group looking so at ease, so relaxed just springing along and did not appear to be working hard either. Then Rose Nicholson in her first season with us and showing she possesses natural talent. Rose doesn’t just run she races the whole time. A wonderful asset to our senior girl’s team. Kay who forgot the warning about speeding earlier on came up the hill moderately on the first lap getting into her stride and weighing up the girls around her and with a complete lap left them. Then as usual start’s racing and enjoying passing those she has been following.
Jenna came next who also misunderstood the “Bobby” instructions. But had also wiped the tears away but kept the smile on her face.
Jenna continuing to have a very good XC season and preparing seriously for her first marathon (London). Kay/Jenna regular training partner’s both seem to have a great influence motivating each other and both having good running performances. Both looking strong and confident. Then Ramona Thevenet Smith having ran at Bushy in the morning plus was dropped off at the wrong place and had run 2 miles across undulating Wimbledon Common carrying a holdall weighing ½ cwt. to the start. Came up the hill looking so fresh and relaxed and having no problem at all. And is getting back to nearly 100% fitness. And on the second lap Ramona had got ahead of the little group that she was amongst in the first.
Sarah Vaughan who had also ran Bushy and run across the Common with Ramona but again this did not seem to affect her. Sarah came up the hill both laps without struggling knowing that the course will not cause her any problems. Sarah no stranger to competing in two events a day and never been known to not finish any of them. At the moment training hard for the Windermere marathon.
But today without Sarah the team would have been one short and paid a penalty of about an extra 100pts. XC running is more about team performances than individual ones and it is reliable club members like Sarah that are appreciated by the rest of the team members. Nice one Sarah (Good luck at Windermere).
A wonderful team performance today to finish 8th this helped the club finish 12th in the final meeting.
The “B” team finished 32nd over the season.

A completely new start area but the course still covering parts of the many on the common and also mostly running anti-clock-wise. BUT ! No escaping from the hilly parts (& Mud).
Andy Smith managed to get 13 for the senior team to turn out for the final fixture trying to make sure we made a very good fight against relegation. Unfortunately but wisely Jimmy Brown withdrew before completing one lap owing to his back injury that forced him to walk half the previous fixture at Lloyds Park. Although having eight weeks rest from running his injury showed its ugly head again and was too painful to run another step. Eric Mamet a great XC lover also had to pull up for the very first time ever who was also being tortured with back pain. Knowing these two lads the pain has got to be very serious to make them stop running before entering the finish funnel. Both lads making a sensible decision to pull up.
Daniel Johnson (U/13) was our only junior running and was not over awed by running alongside the U/15/17s as some of these lads dash away leaving the younger age groups in their wake. That can be heart breaking but Danny ran his race at his pace keeping nice and calm to finish in the middle of the pack but finished 1st U/13. The experience will show rewards in later years. Well done Danny.
The season ended on a dull note by us being relegated to Div.4 next season. This has little affect on the standard of opposition as both Div.3/4 always run together. Being our team’s nominated official I was marshalling on the final corner so only seeing our lads briefly as they passed me twice.
The race positions are Div. 3 only and do not include any Div.4 runners. And first to fly by me was
Justin Mitchell running nice and relaxed among the front group on both laps; Followed by Adrian Brookes
looking in good condition and getting his scheduled mileage under his belt at every opportunity ready for the “London” and should have no problems; Lawrie Baker a strong very good XC runner handling all the turns and continuing changing under foot conditions plus the hills with confidence; Then nice to see
Mike Waine back with us having his first serious run after his shoulder op. and showing his experience
by going out careful over the first lap to see how things feel, he then moved up a few places during the second lap; Andrew Horne a regular point scorer and XC team member over the past couple of seasons and masters any terrain around the many different courses and just gets on with the job-in-hand with no fuss.
Duncan Irvine was having a very good run around the first lap and even a better one on the second lap to finish in great style with a 300m spurt from me to the line. Nice run Duncan.
Another member who enjoys the XC scene is Ed Weeson a Ex-Rugby referee and competes as often as possible and gets great pleasure and enjoyment from the challenge’s to keep fit running the distance XC
courses offer. Ed being one of the hard/tough rugby lads seen on TV still posses that sporting win or lose challenge. Keep with us Ed. (For Will). Next to pass me was gold medal U/20 winner over the season
Matthew Calder looking good leading Andy Smith by an inch (25.4) on the first lap. Andy waiting patiently to overtake Matt during the second lap, this he did and came past me leading by the same margin
BUT! Matt wasn’t having any of that and out sprinted Andy over the last 300m and both enjoying it.
Then Fred Bell our 10th scorer came along in almost the same little group on both laps and clearly happy
with the pace as he was running the next day in the Mabac 8mile to help him continue build up his mileage for the Fleet ½ mara. Good luck Fred. Giuseppe Ardidi making his debut for us did very well for his first XC race and hoping to see him next season.
The positions/times were: J. Mitchell 15th in 32.18; A. Brookes 31st in 33.58; L. Baker 39th in 34.32; M.Waine 56th in 36.14; A. Horne 65th in 36.56; D. Irvine 73rd in 39.21; E.Weeson 78th in 40.09; M. Calder 83rd in 41.19; A. Smith 84th in 41.22; F. Bell 88th in 42.11; G. Ardido 121st in 48.24. Also John Coffey ran 39.44 to finish in 76th place after chasing Duncan very closely over both laps and hoping to run as well the following day in the Mabac 8 mile.
A little reminder don’t forget to clean the mud off your XC shoes BEFORE throwing them in the garage for a rest. Otherwise they will change colour.