Woodies at English & Scottish National CCs
Seven Woodies journeyed to Hardwick East Park, Sedgefield, County Durham, for the most northerly English National Cross Country Championships since the Sunderland blizzards of 13 years ago. The course was undulating, and very uneven with molehills everywhere, but with only two short sections of mud on every lap. Adapting the innovation of Parliament Hill’s ‘King (or Queen) of the Hill’ award, there was a timing mats at the 1km mark for every race for a ‘SuperSprint’ prize. No Woodies were tempted, but the results from it proved a great report-writer’s aid.
The highest Woodford position of the day was achieved by Aidan O’Driscoll, 70th in the Junior Men. This cut in half his position from last year’s championship in which he was a top year U17, showing huge potential for his next two years as a junior. Sophia Stephenson was 81st in the U13G. This was her debut National, and this run was about par for her form this season, having earlier finished 40th in the Southern.
Dawn Holford, also making her National debut, was 283rd in the Senior Women’s race, won by Lucy Jones who led her Herne Hill Harriers squad to team gold. Dawn definitely felt her ankles working after the unevenness. She would admit to starting her sprint for home a bit too early having underestimated the distance from the final corner to the finish, but was pleased with the result after adding less than 100 places to her finish at the Southern.
Woodford had four men in the Senior Men’s championship, won again by 2024 champion Hugo Milner. Tonbridge took the team prize, preventing Bristol and West, who they pushed into second, from securing a historic hat-trick of wins. First in for Woodford was Tom Adolphus, in 174th. He got the fastest start, absolutely and relatively, of the four, but although he felt “cooked” on the final of three laps, the final result was a good reflection of his fitness this season, almost exactly doubling his position from the Southern. Angus Holford in 206th, had started more cautiously, overtook a lot of runners on the final lap, but then (it seemed to him) got overtaken in the final run-in by a lot of the same runners. He is assured he made a net gain however. Angus was delighted to only be a place behind his very first senior national, also in the north, from 16 years ago. Bertie Powell was 405th. Despite suffering from his long term injury in the final mile, Bertie takes the award for the most consistent pacing of the Woodford runners present, with his ‘SuperSprint’ just 0.84% faster than his average over the whole 12.4km race. This was Bertie’s 5th National in a row, halfway through his new target of 10. Finally, Alistair Holford was 1017th. Alistair loves the challenge of the National, and had made this race his target, and in fact only, race for Woodford this season. He was rewarded for that single-minded approach with his best position since the aforementioned 2013 National in Sunderland, and the grizzled Vet’s enthusiasm (after glugging a flask of hot sugary liquid) suggests he’ll be back for one (or more) final job at a future National.
Being far from most major centres of population and a difficult return day-trip from many parts of England, participation numbers were inevitably down, but in all other respects this first-time venue seemed to work very well: Firm grass for club tents despite the recent rain, efficient park-and-ride from the nearby NorthEast Technology Park, decent public transport connections, good spectator sightlines, and plenty of space out on the course. Congratulations to host club Sedgefield Harriers.
At the same time, Ben Potrykus made a much shorter journey west from his home to contest the Scottish National in Falkirk in the colours of his second claim club Inverclyde AC. He came away with a silver medal, behind former Woodford HCA Jamie Crowe. Ben had settled into the leading pack of around 6 athletes until Crowe made his push for the win with about a third of the race remaining. Ben followed and pulled clear of the rest of the group, and while feeling very exposed after the burst of speed was able to hold on to second place.
The next winter squad fixture is the South of England 12-and-6 stage road relays, at Milton Keynes on 29th March where the team managers aim to concentrate the strength that has been seen across several races this season.
Results
English: https://results.sporthive.com/events/7430222477810204672
Scottish: https://results.sporthive.com/events/7427379424208617472