Cross Country

Each year TVT compete in the Thames Valley Cross Country League. Last seasons (2006/2007) details with reports and results from each race are here. The club finished the league in 8th place. With a full side out we were finishing higher and competing against much larger running clubs and so we certainly justified our inclusion in the league.

The philosophy of the team is that this is meant to be fun. These races are about 5 miles long but you don’t have to be Mo Farah or Paula Radcliffe to take part. We fully encourage anybody of any ability to take part and to perform to whatever level they wish to. No member of the club is too slow or too fast to run for us and from the social aspect it is most definitely the more people the merrier. The races for many people are a good reason to get out and go for a run during the colder, darker months and where else would you get to practice running in a group situation, away from hard pavements, on quiet trails, with your club colleagues and get fed afterwards all for only £2?

Please wear a black top whilst running this year. Club kit is being ordered so if you plan to run again next year you will need a running vest. These are available to order through the club kit page.

11th Nov 2007	Datchet Dashers	Directions	team results individual results	report	photos
25th Nov 2007	Sandhurst	Directions	Results	report	photos
2nd Dec 2007	Handy Cross	Directions	Results	report	photos
6th Jan 2008	Tadley	Hurst Community College	team results individual results	report
27th Jan 2008	Finch Coasters	Bramshill Forest, Eversley	Results	report	photos
3rd Feb 2008	Bracknell FR	Lightwater Country Park	Results	report	photos
24th Feb 2008	Metros, Ruislip	Directions	Results	report	photos
16th Mar 2008	Reading Road Runners	Bearwood College	Results	report	photos

The weather is usually the first thing on a runner’s mind when getting ready for a cross country race and the strong rain a couple of hours before the scheduled start probably did little to encourage.

The road closures and Remembrance Sunday parade caused a couple of the team a bit of trouble and David Gurney ended up jogging from the town centre to the start with minutes to spare.

On the other hand, some fresh faces for the team Janice Vinall and Heidi Daniel turned up so early that they ended up registering as guests for another club! Well, it was their first time. Still, we had more than enough people for a team i.e. 7+ men (2 of whom must be vets, 40+) and 3 ladies (1 of whom must be a vet, 40+) and we had a mixture of experienced runners and some fresh faces.

There was a cracking turnout of over 300 runners and the race has a lap of the park at the beginning to thin out the field the runners reach the towpath besides the Thames. It was clear at this stage that Sharkie Jaggard and Alex Scott were well placed for the men as was Charlotte “Choc” Harris for ladies. Alex Golding was enjoying himself listening to some “banging tunes” on his ipod whilst

Joel Winter had an eventful race what with nursing a foot injury and then turning a ankle in the middle of the race. Disaster nearly struck for Choc Harris who whilst trying to remove a windproof top nearly collided with a tree. (Apparently it “leapt out” right in front of her.. .. ) Around the same time Louisa Downs sensibly pulled out from the race as her legs were feeling the effect of some recent heavy training and completing the course was going to do them no favours.

Now during my team talk that Henry V would have been proud of, I mentioned the water ditch that is the “best” part of this course. So I looked a bit of a muppet when I found out they had rearranged the course due to Foot and Mouth precautions.

Sharkie was the first home for the club as 17^th male position in a little over 36 minutes followed soon after by Alex Scott as 27^th. Bearing in mind that they had both done a 80 miler bike session the day before this represented a great performance. Graham Murphy then came home as 65^th male looking fresh as a daisy in his debut outing for the club even after running a 40 minute race.

After regaining her composure from “The Tree”, Choc Harris came storming to the finish 9^th lady and immediately proceeded to the refreshment tent for a well earned chocolate min-roll! Seconds behind her (to the finish, not the refreshment tent) was Alex Golding as 94^th male and obviously had some good tunes playing round the course to finish in 42 minutes.

Joel Winter cruised in as 102^nd male in 43 minutes, well below his usual performances but this was justified by the aforementioned injuries. A minute behind Joel was the first of the vets (no, not James Herriot, the 40+ brigade remember?) in the guise of Darrell Robins who showed no ill effects from being the 80 miler as well. He placed 115^th male in 44 minutes exactly. Helen Garforth finished as 23^rd lady and with a beaming smile that made her time of 45 minutes seem like a training run.

David Gurney then completed the male vets section of the team coming in as the 135^th male in just over 47 minutes; so was that the run from the town centre a good warm up or unwanted extra yardage? Mark Jones had a good race coming 143^rd male in a flurry of finishers as another debut runner for the club.

The winter training Jo Edwards had put in bore fruit as she came home as 41^st lady in 48 minutes and is looking good for the rest of the season. Janice Vinall then came in 260^th position overall but as she was registered as a guest did not receive an official placing in the ladies list.

Ken Crosher was keeping his motor running over the winter period so to speak in his first longish session since the end of season, completed the TVT runners coming home as the 177^th male in 56 minutes. Finally, Heidi Daniel finished as 277^th overall in 57 minutes with the biggest smile of the day just going to prove the point that this is meant to be fun.

The club has never fielded a full team for the first race of the season and for a few days afterwards it looked liked they still hadn’t as somehow Choc had been recorded as a male on the results page – which is pretty harsh in anyone’s books. A quick email and the results were promptly adjusted which meant that TVT team score improved massively and meant that we finished overall as a creditable 6^th out of 13 teams on the day with the ladies team an unprecedented 5^thout of 13.

Thankfully the weather stayed dry during and after the race which meant those that could stay and enjoy some post race nutrition did just that.

The 2006 Sandhurst cross country will be remembered by the madmen who turned up as the wettest race in living memory as we battled a winter storm that resembled a meteorological apocalypse. All I will say is for those of you who want to know you more can read the report from last year and leave it at that.

Getting ready for the race was strange with us going from looking like we would be unable to field a team at one stage to the biggest showing in the club’s history with 17 runners so it was a bit manic for the team organiser (Me!).

It was a dry morning and not too cold so nigh on ideal conditions for a well organised race through the woods near Hawley Lake. The course is in kind of two loops with the halfway point close to the start / finish area and it was at this point that Ken Crosher and Gareth Cooper withdrew from the race because of a minor ankle twist (Ken) and no ability to run (Gareth).

Mark Gittins was first back for the club as 8th male finisher, a top finish (yet the competitive spirit in Mark wasn’t 100% happy of course) and it wasn’t long before Sharkie Jaggard and Alex Scott come home after duelling it out for half the race with Sharkie edging it in a sprint finish (16th and 17th respectively).

It was a few minutes wait until the first of the ladies finished when Choc Harris stormed home as 7th lady, however, because of the effects of global warming (what with it being all of about 7˚C) she had taken her top layer off to avoid overheating. The only problem with that was her race number was still attached to that top so it wasn’t displayed when she finished and so was disqualified.

Ewan Hewertson was a few places behind her finishing a strong 64th male and Darrell Robins led home the veteran contingent in 79th with Paul “Paulo” Weald 10 places behind but 2 minutes ahead of his performance in last years monsoon and with a much more enjoyable cycle home to boot. Helen Garforth also ran significantly faster than last year finishing 18th lady.

David Gurney, nursing a foot niggle, finished 106th male with Jo Edwards coming home next for TVT as 27th lady with a vastly improved time and position on her performance last year proving to all the progress she has made; just don’t expect her to believe you when you tell her .. .. ..

By this stage we had heard that Sue Beacham had taken a fall with about a mile to go and were not entirely sure how she was getting back to the finish. This nearly distracted us from the arrival of Claire Hester as 47th lady finishing with a beaming smile as always.

There was a break before Karen Gallantry finished as 63rd lady and then the double act of Janice Vinall (66th) and Heidi Daniell (67th) who registered with the right club this time ;-)

Sue Beecham finished the course under her own steam and suffered no long term damage to her ankle and will hopefully run in the New Year.

Choc’s DQ didn’t affect the overall team position and we finished 7th overall. This was one place lower than at Datchet but that was because Datchet Dashers were able to field a normal strength team this week. Overall then, another good representation of the club and a great turn out so well done all.

The Handy Cross event is the toughest race of the series because it has steep ascents and descents with heavy mud in places. The weather can’t really affect the up and down-ness of the route but most certainly can the mud and with heavy rain the in the run up to the race and on race morning, it was looking grim.

This may help explain why a number of people we thought were running didn’t turn up in the end – is this a problem; no, course not, remember we are here for the fun. There were also a number of people nursing injuries and this is not the course to run on if not fit. Added to that, Monsterman duathlon was the day before and so we were rather short on the ground.

So short that there were only 4 runners at the start which is still more than at some races in the past!! Because it was raining before the start most of the runners were all trying get changed, put on numbers, etc in the food tent that was there and it took all of Choc’s self control not to start tucking into the mini-rolls :-)

By the time the runners trooped off to the start, some 5 minutes away, the Gods were smiling a little as the rain cleared and we found out our team had swelled to 5 with Janice arriving just in the nick of time. And then they were off.

It was noticeable that this field was smaller than usual and with some clubs participating in another cross country event the day before. It was of course no surprise to see Graham Robinson from Sandhurst Joggers out at the front but his lead by then was huge and would continue to grow until the finish.

Alex is a uni-sex name but our Mr Scott was the only male running for the club (come on chaps, where are you all?) and ran consistently in either 15^th or 16^th position eventually coming in 16^th in a well run race. He was easily tracked and recognisable on the course due to the classic combination of an all black kit with luminous yellow gloves that were visible from about a thousand yards away.. ... that and being about seven foot tall ;-)

After the DQ debacle at Sandhurst, Choc was determined to keep most of her kit on this time and finish the race. Most of the time was spent as 3^rd lady with the 2^nd lady in sight and towards the end of the race the gap was being narrowed so much that with 400m to go there was nothing in it. Until the 2^nd placed lady realised that she had a fight on her hands after a marshal called out their places and then found some extra pace with the finishing line in sight. Choc came in as a most creditable 3^rd lady on a tough course she had never run before.

Helen Garforth continues to have a good season and managed to improve on last year’s time by a few seconds which counts as progress in my book. Helen ended up placing as 10^th lady meaning that TVT were doing well in the Ladies team classification.

So who was next in? Jo Edwards. Sharkie wasn’t running because he did Monsterman the day before so was there to offer some words of encourage to the team. We have no idea what he said to Jo ’coz I had legged it off to the finish by then but whatever it was it worked a treat; Jo stormed home as 21^st lady a whopping 4 minutes faster than on the same course last year. She even managed a half smile at one stage!

Janice was running the course for the first time and without her partner in crime, Heidi, and did a sterling job in finishing in 45^th after all the frantic activity of making it to the start in time.

There was plenty of grub and a can of Red Bull for the caffeine addicts at the finish and yes, there was the odd chocolate mini-roll there too. And then it started to rain again.. ..

The ladies had a great performance and were 4^th only a few places behind Sandhurst so a real hats off to the girls. Hats off to Alex for being the sole male rep and he did well to help us avoid being last making us 11^th out of 13 teams. Overall the club came 9^th out of 13^th which shows just how much the ladies’ team performance contributed.

The next race is after Christmas so until then hope you all have a good time and get the odd run session in (it justifies all the turkey we scoff) and see you at Tadley on the 6^th.

The first race in the New Year is always good fun and a chance to catch up with club mates you haven’t seen for a while and check out who truly did eat all the pies at Christmas. And no I’m not going to tell; if you weren’t there, you’re not to know. Except it wasn’t me!

Tadley was the venue for this race which means that we all park up at the school / community centre and then walk for 10 minutes to the start. For those who were still a bit bleary eyed (and at 1000 for crying out!) the car park woke them up for it was slipperier than the ice-rink at the Oracle. I’m not sure what was funnier, seeing people trying not to slip slide about or adults acting as 10 year olds seeing how far they could slide.

Gareth upset most of the team by asking if the qualified for Veteran status (40+) because we were short of Vets for a team. His excuse was that he was grouchy from lack of sleep and was suffering from temporary dementia as a result. We then headed off to the start which was a 10 minute walk away. And of course, by the time the start was imminent the rest of the Vet contingent had arrived and a full team (of starters) was assured.

Another thing that is great about the first race back is looking at those in new kit that loved ones bought them and those with new HRMs and Garmins who are still trying to get the darn things to work.. … . I saw one guy pushing so many buttons on his I thought it was a Blackberry and he was emailing work! Somebody else was complaining that he now reading a heart rate of over 400, more concerned was the guy next to him whose said he was clinically dead! Technology, eh.

Tadley course is one of mixed terrain which for some compliments the flatter nature of the course. There are the infamous ditch crossings, the countless puddles and the renowned mud patches which made it all the more remarkable that Jo Lewis (running for Reading) was wearing white socks that were pristine still after the first mile!

Last year the leaders got lost so there were a few additional marshal / directors out in force this time. The mud lived up to its reputation with a number of runners losing a shoe – I suppose the funny thing is that they still take 2 or 3 strides to stop after losing their shoe so you always see them looking back up the track trying to find it :-) And it definitely wasn’t the course for stretchy laces Claire.. .. .

The ditch crossing proved popular as always with the dilemma of do you wait in turn to cross the easy bit or go round the side and just plough through the stream? Choices, choices. Its sort of like a cross between an Ikea store opening stampede and the orderly queue for the 1^st class lifeboats on the Titanic – there is plenty of urgency to get on with it but no-one wants to look like they’ve lost their cool and panicked.

Anyway – the results. Mark Gittins wasn’t available this year so it was left to Sharkie to head up the team coming home in 18^th after glimpsing the rare chance to beat Richard Usher; Helen’s husband and Sharkie’s XC sparing partner it seems. Although Richard beat him, Sharkie was closer than last year so wait till 2009!

Gareth Cooper was finally fit (more precisely “uninjured”) for his first race of the season and seemed to hold up remarkably well winning a sprint finish that he certainly didn’t want to have take part in, damn that competitive streak. Spectators said it reminded them of Chariots of Fire, or was Forrest Gump? Difficult to tell those two apart.. .. Still, he finished in 49^th place which was the same as last year so he’s a happy bunny.

Joel Winters and Paul Weald came in 85^th and 86^th males respectively. Joel still recovering from his foot injury was pleased with his outing and Paul showed what he can do when he doesn’t handicap himself by cycling to the event. So a good outing by both of them.

Darrell Robins broke the top 100 men in 98^th followed by debutant Dave Bristow in 99^th with a great display for someone not familiar with cross country, the course and the distance.

No Choc this week which was a shame for the team but great news for those interested in the post-run food ;-) So this mean that Caroline Goodman stepped up to be the first lady home for TVT in 11^th place.

Another debutant for the club was Andrew Downs after he had been given permission to race by Louisa - isn’t it meant to be the other way round?? Running in normal road shoes on this terrain is tough stuff and Andrew ran a good race finishing 106^th male and completing the scorers for the men’s team.

Helen Garforth annually treats this race as a welcome back to running rather than a race and so was happy with how she felt and her placing of 21^st lady which was actually slightly better than last year! Mark Jones was right behind Helen at the finish as 118^th male and is seeing his running improve as the tri-season approaches.

Jo Edwards continues to reinforce the fact that her running has improved considerably over the last 12 months. Last year she finished 49^th at this race but this time recorded a finish of 25^th, a fantastic improvement.

Noah’s Ark stylie, Claire Hester and Ewan Hewertson came in together as 46^th lady and 138^th male respectively. Claire’s race not helped of course by losing a shoe on one occasion and probably coming close to losing it on several others.

Ken Crosher was sweeping up for the team coming home as 146^th male but far more importantly not having any problems with the ankle he turned at Sandhurst which was good news.

So once again a full team for the club bouncing back after Handy Cross. Our turn out wasn’t reflected in the results though as we came 8^th overall but were last of the clubs that fielded a full team. However, this being the first race of the year for a number of clubs meant that they had stronger teams out than usual so we actually did OK to keep as close to them as we did. So well done folks and hope you enjoyed yourselves. Currently I believe we are 7^th in the league table.

We then all trotted back to the school for grub and somehow managed to acquire Mark Gittins on the way as he had popped in whilst on a bike session and whilst there it was rude of us not to let him eat with the rest of the club; he says he’ll run for us next time. Seeing is believing.. ..

The race in Bramshill plantation is a deceiving little devil because it all looks quite nice and OK at the start but hides some terrific short climbs and descents once you get into the woods.

The weather for this race was fantastic for the end of January and with the sun having been out all morning, some parts of the course were positively hot – this may have also had something to do with the hill you had to climb at the same time though!

The team were missing several of its usual suspects but such is the enthusiasm for the XC season at the moment that we still had plenty of runners. We had even more once the race actually started! Paul Weald set a new record for his T2 transition by changing from his bike gear to run kit in seconds and managed to join the race before the start – see, it just goes to prove that the XC series can help your other disciplines too.

And then it was off to the start. The starter was a bit bemused because the people at the front were nicely lined up but 5 yards behind the start – usually they are 5 yards in front of it. The course was firm underfoot and there were not too many muddy patches which made a change.

Paul may have set the transition record but he wasn’t the latest. That award went to Mark Jones and whilst running round the course he was clutching a map or some other paper so it looked like he was taking part in some of political protest. (The cost of Tri-race fees would be a good place to start!)

Mark Gittins, now a committed runner for the club (I don’t mean “committed” as in locked up for being mentally ill! I mean that he is now turning up for the club regularly.) was first home for the club which is likely to be a common result. He was second only to the league legend of Graham Robinson and has to be the club’s highest finish since I can’t remember anyone ever winning a race – if anyone knows better than please shout.

Alex Scott was 15^th Male home in his first race on this circuit which is another darn good showing and points to a good season ahead for Alex as he enters a few shorter races. We had to wait a few minutes for Gareth Cooper to arrive at the finish (42^nd Male) and the first question he was asked was where were his car keys because Alex and Mark were getting cold! He was more interested in understand why his heart rate throughout the race was higher than a hummingbird was a nervous disorder attending an open air falconry display.

Little known Ian Carson had a good out outing coming back from injury (65^th Male) and Graham Murphy wasn’t far behind (84^th Male) as finishers started to come back thick and fast as Darrell Robins was first vet back (87^th Male) a whopping 15 places higher than last year.

Choc Harris was first lady back for the club (9^th Lady) and would have been several places higher if it wasn’t for the extreme heat that morning and the fact that she had more than 3 hours sleep the night before.. ..

Dave Bristow was next in (59^th Male) with Paul Weald hot on his heels (60^th Male) showing that his brick sessions are going good.

Helen Garforth was next in for the ladies (19^th Lady) in a similar result to last year and Heidi Daniell completed the Ladies team (62^nd Lady) with Janice Vinall finishing with the same time (63^rd Lady) and the campaigning Mark Jones only a few seconds adrift (144^th Male).

Nick Green making a welcome appearance for the club cruised home (149^th Male) after escorting the young Tom Green making his debut (I believe for the club) round the course (219^th Male).

So, another good representation by the club and some good personal results as well. Because of the winter sunshine, tea was served outside at the Memorial Hall in Finchampstead. The results we have received though didn’t have overall team listings on it so yours truly conjured them up for you. There were a couple of individual results the could be debated but they do not affect the overall team standings. By my reckoning we came 7^th Male, 7^th Lady and 7^th overall.

Apparently the Look Out at Bracknell has increased its charges to the Forest Runners for using the hall there for the post race nutrition. As a result the club changed location for this years race and held it at Lightwater Country Park just the other side of Bagshot. They have held races here before apparently in other XC leagues.

As a result of this change, nobody in the club really knew what the course was and what to expect. Thankfully it was a 2 lap course and so the word out was not to hammer the first lap and once you knew what to expect to put the foot down on the second.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the club has the wisdom of the Skipper’s pre-race talk. Alan Wylie was not aware of the change of location and “popped by” the Look Out on his way to Lightwater arriving a couple of minutes after the start and promptly tried to run his way back into the race which was going OK until he encountered the tough hill .. ..

Maybe we should have started on a positive note with the number of runners that the club was fielding for it was another top turnout for TVT. A total of 20 runners or so were there representing the club which is probably the biggest turnout in the club’s history. This though, brought its own issue as we shall soon see.

There are too many people to mention everyone so let me point out a few highlights:

§ And Triumph Okojie did well to finish on his debut in conditions far from back home.

So the race as a whole can be summed up through the “Good News, Bad News” routine.

The Good News – A fantastic turnout by the club and its associate members. In terms of team performance, it was a season’s best. The ladies were joint first which I don’t think has ever happened before so a huge well done to them. The men faired well too placing 6^th meaning that the overall result of the team was 5^th. A superb result. The large team also meant that there was a good atmosphere afterwards even if the team skipper did need the help of half the squad to complete the results and count the cash correctly! (But he got it right in the end.. ..)

The Bad News - The club got, for want of a better term, a complete bollocking again for our lack of club kit. We can debate the reasons why this issue was raised (i.e. we were grassed because Mark came 3^rd and caught someone’s attention in his dodgy running top) but we shouldn’t forget that we have been asked to wear club kit now for the last couple of years and we have tried to organise ourselves earlier in the season but never accomplished it. In the end, Mark was DQ’s from the results but this did not affect the overall team placing so shouldn’t annoy us.

The issue for the club is that we have effectively been guests to this league for many years now; never hosting a race of our own but hardly ever fielding a team. In recent years however, the size and ability of the club’s representation has grown to the point now that we are no longer an “add-on” but a known group with runners who do affect the top finishers and overall results. There are a number in the league who find our lack of club kit for whatever reasons not in the spirit of the league or simply not acceptable. There are others who are less concerned and feel that there is not really a problem.

It is up to us as a club to resolve this situation rather than leave to the league to decide for us and there has been talk about taking action at the next league meeting at the end of the season. So we are asking that for the next race at Metros that we wear as much club kit as possible; i.e. running vests or gillets or anything else with club colours on it. If you have both and are willing to lend one then please bring both. (I wouldn’t recommend trying to run in the Windtex jackets though!) Otherwise it is black (with no exceptions) or you will be listed as a guest.

Always wondered where the Metros club is based? I think the answer is bloody miles away. After having to cancel their race for at least the last two seasons, this year it was on and involved a short trip to Ruislip the other side of the M25 and M40. But before we start to complain too much about how far away it was we should remember that every race for them is a significant journey so it was “nice” from the leagues point of view that they didn’t have to travel this time.

And before you ecologists out there point to the amount of miles driving runners must have racked up to get there and back, please rest assured that TVT only took three cars. And no, they weren’t all Chelsea Tractors. However the self congratulations should be muted because it meant that we were rather short of a team – at least the men were because the ladies continued their full-team presence at every race so far this season. The men, hmmm .. ..

The venue was in a place called Mad Bess Woods which conjures up the odd image or two. Essentially it was English type of small wood with deciduous trees of a beech, birch nature and about a thousand criss-crossing footpaths with plenty of tree roots, the odd hound, the odd mound of the hound, and the odd marshal or two who you soon got to know because the course was a not one, not two, but a three lapper.

This for some people was a tough one. There were no rubber bands to collect on each lap, no stamping of the hand like a night out at The After Dark and no chip timing. Most people seemed to survive OK. The course was dry to the extent that you could get away with road shoes if you took care where you trod (see above about the hound – it was close but thankfully I just missed!). It was also pretty fast with long, reasonable climbs and long reasonable descents. It was also the shortest race of the season.

The team was wearing a lot more of its club colours but others were there in black too and were accepted without trouble (so far) but it wasn’t a day when the thermal properties of black were required because it was mild-to-warm and some runners struggled with the combination of cold weather clothing and warm weather! (well I did at least.)

So after going round the field once it was into the woods and then up, round, along, up, up, along, down, along, down along, along down, up, round, along, up, up, along, down, along, down along, along down, up, round, along, up, up, along, down, along, down along, along down and along to the finish, how did we all fair? (I for a start got dizzy.. .. )

Well, first home for the club was the fast hobbling Sharkie Jaggard in 12^th place. We do have to point out that some other races were on that day depleted the field a bit however you can only run against the field you are in and Sharkie did a grand job. (When I say “run against the field you are in” I mean the field of athletes and not the field of grass at the start and finish so don’t get any clever ideas, all right?)

Louise Bardsley wasn’t too far behind coming in as 17^th overall and 2^nd lady. We like to think that she could have been first lady (no I don’t mean like Hillary Clinton or Barbara Bush type first lady – what is going on with you lot today.. ..) if she was feeling competitive and wanted to run hard. But the whole point for the club is that this is meant to be fun and you run as hard or as slow as you want.

Well, Alan ran strongly and came home in 26^th place as he continues to build towards Vancouver in December 2098 or whenever the next Worlds are but if he stays injury free and keeps those legs shaved then has a great chance of having a great race ;-)

Speaking of great races, Gareth Cooper ran like a cross between an over-heating pudding and Ivor the Engine (pictures on a postcard please .. . ) and struggled home in 40^th place overall with the highlight of his race being a new season’s heart rate high! Obviously