Essex Cross Country Championships: Alicia McArdell 8th, James Stockings 5th, Senior Men regain title
Woodford’s senior men’s squad regained the Essex Cross Country Championship team trophy in the heavy rain and mud of Basildon’s Gloucester Park on 8th January. The squad was targeting its 5th title in 7 championships, but with Havering edging them out in 2019 and 2020, and no championship in 2021, its first for four years. Led home by 2017 silver-medallist James Stockings in 5th place, Woodford took team gold by closing 6 men with 101 points to Havering’s 135. Woodford second-claimer Tom Frith took the individual title by a large margin, and led Southend to team bronze (160 points). Woodford HCA member Ahmed Abdulle took individual bronze running for Ilford. The squad looks forward to both donning the green-and-white hoops again soon.
An hour earlier, Alicia McArdell had finished 8th in the senior women’s race won by Victoria Hinscock of Benfleet RC. It started off slow and Alicia was surprised to find herself holding on to the front group well into the race. When the pace switched, Alicia settled into a solitary 7th place, before being caught herself and coming out second in a three-way tussle at the finish. With no team honours to fight for, Alicia’s probable Inter-Counties selection is just reward, and a major stride forward from her previous best of 16th, in 2020.
The men’s race took place to the backdrop of real-time team-score updates shouted by Paul Stockings; and the team was grateful for the firm and loud encouragement led by Bertie Powell, with Cowsi Magol, Alan Bird, and others, who braved the dispiriting and unrelenting Basildon rain and mud to support them. Afterwards, despite the rain continuing to pour, and pubs, lifts home and families calling, all 12 of the race-day squad stayed for the result to be confirmed, cheer our second-claim comrades at their medal and trophy presentation, and finally to hoist the trophy aloft, and get a glimpse of the history engraved on it.
First man Stockings was disappointed to be outsprinted for 4th, but secured automatic selection for the Inter-Counties. The team managers were very glad to catch Darren Southcott on a flying visit home from his warm-weather training base in Singapore. His 11th place demonstrated his strong form, though he felt there was potential for another 3 or 4 places if he’d been better acclimatised. The conditions were a stark contrast to the road, 30+ degree heat and high humidity that he’s run in for the past two years. Angus Holford‘s 14th place reflected his current level of fitness. He was pleased to take two places on the second lap, less pleased to see the gaps widening up ahead of him, and relieved his failure to latch on to two Havering runners who finished within 40 seconds in front of him did not sway the outcome.
Josh Entwistle (16th) took the most damage over the 10k course, falling and scraping his leg on a post at a tight corner on lap 1, and falling again descending the steepest hill on lap 2. With runners tightly packed behind Josh, Tom Beedell was concerned for the hit to the team score from both incidents but Josh fought through, losing no more than the time it took to regain his feet. Tom (22nd) couldn’t quite work through the entire string of runners behind Josh but was pleased with the positive step forward in his returning level of fitness. Our team was closed by Dan Steel in 33rd. With this performance Dan surpassed his rule of thumb to “divide his Met League position by three” by a good 10 places, and secured a surprisingly convincing win in the team competition.
As well as restoring the club’s recent dominance, this 32nd county title for Woodford extends its lead over Chelmsford’s 21, in the all-time tally of team championships. Chelmsford had packed three in the top 8 but could only finish 6th, showing the importance of strength-in-depth, with all six scorers, and in recent years many non-scorers, mattering for the destination of the team prizes. On the day, any of the first four of our B-team runners; past champion Kevin Murphy (41st), Julian Russell (53rd), Harold Wyber (58th), and Paul Manson (61st); could have closed our team instead of Steel and come away with a gold medal. As it was, along with V60 bronze medallist from December Richard Holland (98th) and a race-rusty Rob Wilbraham (142nd) who was pleased with his run and involvement, they formed Woodford’s B team, finishing 9th of the 25 complete teams. This was the 2nd B team behind a tightly packed Colchester Harriers B and over 100 points ahead of Havering’s B team, who finished 13th, which is encouraging ahead of the return to 12-to-score competition in a week’s time for the fourth Met League of the season.