Men 10th, Women 21st at Southern 12-and-6 stage

Woodford’s men finished 10th and Women 21st at the Southern 12-and-6-stage relays, held again at Milton Keynes’ Stantonbury Campus on 30th March. Woodford’s fastest long legs were by Phil Norman and Jenna Sheehy; and fastest short legs by Nathan Wright and Louise Gilbert; in all cases club records since the course was last altered in 2022. We also bring news of the Ken and Brenda Bray Trophy standings.

 Men’s 12-stage

On the morning, team members had whispered about the men’s team being as strong as ones that had, in the past, won medals. And you could see why as they welcomed Olympian Phil Norman back to a relay squad, for leg 1. From the gun to top of the first hill, Phil settled in the pack, but as others’ hot-headed starts faded he soon drifted to the front and half way round the leg was jointly at the head. The group splintered late, and only Newham and Essex Beagles’ Charlie Brisley could outpace Phil, who came in second place, just 7 seconds behind, in a time of 26:00 (for the approx. 8.5k). This would remain the 3rd best time of the day.

Angus Holford is rather less used to being near the front of such races, and team manager for the event Tom Phillips had entrusted him to keep a cool head, ignore the potential stream of faster runners lined up behind him, and run his own race. It was good advice: after his lap of 16:33 for the 4.9k (but, as he discovered later, 85m of climbing!) we were 7th. After feeling the lactate burn in his arms and legs a bit earlier than would be ideal, Angus was initially disappointed but later could acknowledge a reasonably solid run.

If Phil had set Angus up to be shot at, Angus in turn set up Ben Potrykus to shoot at people, with the Scottish short-course cross country champion easing past Victoria Park, Tonbridge and Belgrave to take us back up to 4th, with his leg of 26:16. This would remain the 11th fastest of the day.

Ben Potrykus: 11th fastest long stage overall

Dan Steel, who is in heavy marathon training and nursing a knee niggle, had a similarly unenviable task to Angus by following Ben. But as with Angus he was placed here for his cool head and experience. He came home in 16:47 which was quicker than 3 years ago but slower than last year. With plenty of 15-minute runners on his leg we slipped down to 9th

This was Tom Frith’s first appearance in a club vest for almost a year following a series of injuries. He was glad to be healthy and back running but struggled to replicate his form of last year, clocking 29:12. We dropped to 13th, our lowest position of the day, but with a few teams lined up to aim for.

This may have spurred Tom Adolphus on a little too much, and he reflected his pacing was not ideal as he went out hard. However his time of 15:48 was a big improvement on last year, and he gained us one place.

Joel Doye had unfortunately suffered from norovirus since his outstanding performance at the National XC. His training had been affected since but he almost replicated last year’s time (27:31) and gained another place, with the team now up to 11th.

The next two legs were pure time trials with both Toms coming under no pressure from behind and not getting much of a sniff of anyone in front. Tom Phillips found the first km tough but eventually got into his running to finish in 16:07. Tom Beedell 28:10 - was very disappointed with his performance and had been targeting a much faster time though probably suffered from the lone running .

Nathan Wright, along with the first two long legs, provided one of the three outstanding performances of the day, taking well over a minute off his time from last year and placing himself comfortably at the top of the Woodford record list for this course with 15:18. In doing so he made large inroads into Beagles who lay 10th. He was also 15th fastest short leg of the day which given he spent the whole leg chasing a distant competitor is excellent.

Ed Shepherd quickly swallowed up early leaders Beagles and taking us into the top 10 before looking out ahead for the 9th club. Unfortunately the 9th man was too far ahead to follow and after missing a sign blown down in the wind and took a shortcut on the first lap that saved him about half a mile. Appearing on the second lap up in 8th ahead of Herne Hill and Belgrave left team management cockahoop before realisation of what had happened set in. Ed returned in 24:45 for our quickest long leg or slowest short leg of the day, depending on perspective. He was promptly given a 3:18 penalty, which left us in 10th. 

Videsh Weerakkody had been suffering from an illness all week and valiantly agreed to come and complete the team on the basis that even at 75% he would be an asset, but knowing that as leg 12 he could relax if it was felt the competition was effectively over. This turned out to be the case and Videsh ran 17:08 to close the team in 10th position in a time of 4:22:58, the best performance in 3 outings on this incarnation of the course and equalling our best position from 2022.

All in all this was a solid performance but one that perhaps left an overly optimistic team manager slightly flat. An improvement of 5 minutes would see us break into the top 5 and perhaps is a good aim in the coming years.

Women’s 6-stage

The women’s team was stronger than it has been for many years and ran 9 minutes quicker than they did in 2024. Emily Caton took a break from revision for her A-Levels and led the team off with an excellent run of 19.33 for the short leg. Emily handed over to new recruit Jenna Sheehy who was looking forward to the absence of mud that a road-relay offered but was disappointed to find that mud was replaced with lots of steeper-than-they-look inclines around the long leg circuit. Even so, Jenna ran a solid long leg to finish in 37:22. As Jenna enters the final few weeks of her marathon training, we wish her all the best when she competes in the 2025 Manchester Marathon! 

Our 3rd leg of the day was run by Suzanne Phillips who the squad were thrilled to see return to the team after some time away across the winter. Suzanne ran 20:09 for her short leg and gained two positions during her run- taking the team from 26th to 24th position. It was then over to Zoe Watson for the second long leg of the day which she ran in 38:15. With the long legs over, Louise Gilbert ran an excellent penultimate leg in 18:44 and moved us up to 21st position. Her time was the 35th fastest short leg on the day and the fastest of our team. Finally, Alicia McArdell took over to lead the team home and maintained our 21st placing. Having struggled with a hip injury for much of the winter, Alicia was pleased with her 20:25 and is looking forward to getting back to more training now that her injury has, hopefully, been resolved. 

Winter Trophy news

With this result, Zoe cemented her place as the 2024/25 Brenda Bray Trophy champion, succeeding Alicia. On the men’s side Tom Adolphus and Dan Steel are tied for first place in the Ken Bray Trophy, and cannot be caught by 2023/24 champion Tom Beedell who sits in 3rd. All will come down to the National 12-stage at Sutton Park on 12th April, where depending on leg assignment and their performance, all three results (a win for Adolphus, for Steel, or a tie) remain possible.