2016 National CC Champs: Seniors
To Leicestershire it was for this year’s National Championships. For the women, the first time since 1986 in that county. The first time ever at Donington Park, the home of British Motorsport. Its central location boosting numbers to a creditable 739 (finishers), comparing well to the 865 finishers at last year’s Parly Hill affair.
Photos (by Terry McCarthy/edited by Alex Wardle)
A new course, sweeping hills and drags in an open rural setting. Mainly dry. A cold day with a biting wind but, to repeat for anybody else still haunted by Herrington Park ’13, DRY. And after a difficult season, a line-up of six Woodettes on the start line was (even for them) a joy to behold.
There has been no difficulty this season for Suzanne Turvey (right). 
On top of good job news earlier in the week, she was ready for a good run. Our pundits on the drive up had suggested the time-honoured 'double your Southern result (32) and add a bit' algorithm. They should have said take a bit off but they weren’t far wrong as she barely doubled it to get first home in a brilliant 60th (something even she hadn’t hoped for out loud). Having run 121 last year in Croft Ambrey’s colours, green & white clearly suits her better!
Meanwhile V40 Kat Gundersen, racing for the first time this year after mid winter injury woes, felt giddy at the start and despite a pre-race glucose dose had to call it a day just short of half way. Rachel Lund (190) (below), merely days old when the race was last run here, was next home for Woodford in a strong run that placed her in the top 25% of finishers. Third scorer was V45 Jenny Thomas (334) feeling miles better than her last outing on mud a fortnight before, and closing for the green & whites was V50 Karen Balcombe (413) in another very strong run, 130 places higher than last year - the Norfolk air demonstrably agreeing with her. Fifth home was Alex Wardle (530) stepping out from behind the camera, in her debut race this season, 120 places higher than at Parly Hill last year.
The team closed in a creditable 33rd of 84. Suzanne and Karen deservedly cementing their respective leads in the Brenda Bray and Bray Masters competitions as the rest of the squad anticipates the popular road relays in 3 weeks' time.
Men
The season came to a close with the most prestigious cross country race of them all, the National. This year it was held at the picturesque Donington Park in Leicestershire. Woodford had assembled good size men's and women's teams at the fixture, and the mood was buoyant as the men looked to do battle against the 1700+ plus field.
But the first race the team had interest in was the U20 race where Woodford's Birmingham University athlete Bradley Wattleworth emphasised his excellent form by continuing on from his tremendous 8th place at the BUCS CC with an 11th place in this race. The fact that Bradley is not long back from injury suggests that this summer all his PBs could be re-written by some fair margins, which will be great for our BAL team!
After the U20 race it was the senior ladies, and then came the senior men's race. First in was Tom Phillips in 83rd. This was a tremendous run by Tom who had decided to do a gruelling double session, usually only undertaken by experienced runners like Paul Stockings, the first session being in the bars in Cardiff the night before the national, and then getting up to detox by doing the 12k the next day! Tom ran terrifically though, and he was made to, since just one place behind, and pushing him the whole race (as shown above where Beedell leads), was Tom Beedell who finished in 84th. This was Tom's best finish in the National, and he is targeting the Cardiff Half Marathon in a month's time, and this form shows that his target of 70 minutes is very realistic. Third man in was Angus Holford in 157th. It was a very strong run by Angus as it gets ever nearer to his aim of the season, of going well at the Essex 20 (which is hosting 5 other counties). Angus was not picked for a very strong Essex team, but in such form this manager thinks he will give the Essex and other county representatives a very good run at his first attempt at this distance.
Fourth in it was great to see a return to form for Harold Wyber in 198th (shown above leading Angus Holford). Harold spoke positively about his training and how his form was getting there. And it was pleasing to see that when we stopped at the services on the motorway, that Harold got a foot-long Subway and demolished it in a few bites, as Harold aficionados will recall that one of his best runs was just after eating a burger and chips, so a well-fed Harold before a race is a dangerous thing! In behind was Daniel Steel in 222nd. This manager could easily have been writing about Daniel in the 150s as the marathon man was looking phenomenally strong on lap two and closing on Angus, but suddenly on a loop and out of sight, when they reappeared Daniel had gone from fourth scorer to sixth, what had happened? It was the tale of the mud, as on a very muddy section, Daniel had half-lost one of his spikes and had to stop to put it back on, and tightening laces is never an easy thing when they are covered in mud! But with how well Daniel went, it bodes well for the relays and for his half marathon in Bath. Closing our six was Simon Beedell in 239th. Having two brothers in our top 6 is unusual and it is testament to Simon's continued improvement that even in the biggest of races he is getting ever nearer the top end of the field, but Simon will probably only be concerned about closing the 3 minutes to his brother Tom!
This closed our 6 in 239 and gave us an excellent 14th on the day. We in fact had closed our 6 12th fastest which shows how good our depth in the squad is, and when you look at some of the teams behind us (Bristol and West, Herne Hill, Aldershot, Belgrave, Tipton, etc.) it emphasises what a great team effort it had been. Well done to Morpeth who won and closed with an impressive 6 in 40! And individual winner Johnny Hay who backed up his 1.42 20 miler two weekends ago with winning the National - what a talent he is! Commiserations to Highgate who just missed out on the medals. They only missed out due to some bad luck which can happen to any team on the day, and there is no doubt that a national title is not far off.
But there was a 9-man trophy as well and so our seventh man in was Tony Russell in 343rd. Tony has looked strong all season, and in this race was in a good tussle (shown below) with Bertie Powell who had beaten him at the last Met, but the months of consistent training showed in the final 4k where Tony got ahead of Bertie then pulled away in a very good run. In next was Bertie in 434th. Bertie was slightly inconsolable at the end as his calf had gone with a lap to go. 
The fact that he made it to the end and still came in the top 30% of the field in the biggest race of the season was an extraordinary achievement and again confirmed the fact that Bertie has been right up there with the toughest club runners in our generation. Closing the 9-man team was Louis Clark in 450th. Louis admitted at the end that he was delighted that this was the last mud race of the season, and that he couldn't wait to be on a surface that didn't actively try and send you one way while you were trying to go in completely the other direction! Louis' form has shown that if he continues his progress his aim of 33 min 10k at 33 should be very much on this summer, it will be interesting to see how he goes at the relays.
This closed our nine man team in 450, which was just four places after Newham, who came 15th in the 6 man team, had closed 6! This highlights what a good 9 this was, and with some quick calculations our 9-man team could have been as high as 11th on the day.
But we still had three men to come who would close our second team of 6. Our tenth man in was Gareth Cavell in 694th. Gareth has started his track sessions, and did a 63s 400m on Tuesday which shows that when the distances drop and the surfaces change to road or track, Gareth will be looking to see some of his PBs go this summer. In next was Alistair Holford in 1431st. Completing his 11th National in a row, Alistair's main aim had been to finish and in doing this, as he said himself before the start, he set himself up for the next 10 in a row! Closing the team was Trevor Powell in 1557th. This was a much better run for Trevor then the Southern CC where he had not been 100% and Trevor seemed very satisfied at the end. Trevor must also have been pleased to see not only Bertie get round but his other son, Woodford second claimer Jon, come in 357th, to make this National a real family affair for him.
This closed our second 6 in 1557 which on rough calculations would have put our second 6 in about 77th in the 6-to-score teams ahead of fellow Essex club Eton Manor AC who came 87th. To have 12 athletes who made the trip up to Leicestershire was pleasing to see and the standard was again terrific from a number of our athletes. The team atmosphere with a good men's and ladies team was excellent, and all who had gone had seemed to very much enjoy the experience. The next team race will be the Southern Road Relays on the 20th March, in Kent.