Seniors at Southern Cross Country 2022: Ed Shepherd 4th, Men's Team 8th
Ed Shepherd delivered an impressive 4th place in the Senior Men's race at the Southern Cross Country Championship, narrowly missing out on repeating his bronze from 2019. He edged Woodford second-claimer Tom Frith into 5th place, and led the team to 8th, our best since 2016.
The new venue of Beckenham Place Park provided a firm surface all round. However, the fast course was not unchallenging, featuring as it did a long hill on each lap. The strong wind also rewarded strategic tucking-in.
Woodford had two starters in the women's 8000m championship. Suzanne Phillips and Alicia McArdell enjoyed a tussle for Woodford supremacy, eventually won by Phillips, in 71st place to McArdell's 80th. Both exceeded expectations coming into the race. The Senior Men's 15000m championship was held over 4 laps, plus a complex loop that led to some disarray and confusion among the leaders 2 minutes into the race. Ed Shepherd had settled into around 7th place for the first half of the race, in his words "towed along" by Frith, before gaining ground and finishing just 7 seconds behind bronze medallist Alex Teuten, and 15 seconds behind winner Andy Maud. With this performance Shepherd further cements his place in the pantheon of Woodford senior men's Southern greats, decisively overhauling Willy Heiberg's two 5th places in 1961 and 1962. In a Woodford vest Ed is bettered only by Harry Payne, who took the title in 1928.
James Stockings made an aggressive start and then did not enjoy the middle two laps, but had a second wind for the final lap. He put together a strong finish, motivated by the presence of Essex rivals Dave Fewell and Ben Davis to finish 59th. Angus Holford would have hoped for a muddier course, and consciously also set out fast (by his standards) knowing his usual caution would not be rewarded. He shipped five places in the second half of the race to finish 74th. 'Ben Phillips', in 90th place, had opted for trail shoes in part to look after his “ageing legs”. However he relished the sections with tarmac paths and was satisfied to gain a handful of places in the long finishing straight to elevate his final position. It seems that there was a mistake with runner declaration and this was in fact Tom Beedell.
Tom Phillips didn't have the chance to relish this "track runner's 9.2 miles" quite as he'd have hoped, with the stony sections, and camber requiring caution for a foot injury that flared up earlier in the week. He came 119th.
Simon Beedell in 183rd closed the team in 8th on 529 points, just 3 points behind South London Harriers in 6th and 1 behind surprise package Dulwich, who no doubt benefited from something approaching home advantage. Team gold was taken by Southampton, ahead of Highgate and Tonbridge. Woodford beat both Bedford and Aldershot - champions and runners-up when we were last in the medals in 2010 - and can also be proud to have taken the scalps of both Kent AC and Blackheath & Bromley in their own neck of the woods, and all Met League rivals barring runaway leaders Highgate.
Bertie Powell finished 214th, describing this as the hardest race he'd ever done. He overcame some mid-race dizziness to beat Dan Steel into 215th on Dan's local parkrun course. Kevin Murphy was close behind in 230th proudly sporting his pink shorts. Julian Russell suffered in his spikes but was pleased to finish 252th in what is likely to be one of his last races for us. Finally, Rob Wilbraham continued his path back to form with 479th place, beating well over 200 runners at this unique championship distance.