The senior women had a truly fantastic start to the Kent League. The headlines: 4th overall from Caroline Ford, 4th in the U20s from Lara Atkinson, 1st in the W45 from Louise Knight AND second in both the team of three and team of six competitions! Great job ladies.
Our last trip to Nonington was legendary because it persisted with rain and the team had to run through a farmyard which was awash with slurry. Needless to say there was nowhere to wash off afterwards. Lovely! I’m told we were not the only team that was deeply unimpressed. So it was a real treat to arrive in blazing sunshine to an altered course which was either up or down but never flat. In other words a good cross country course which everyone seemed to enjoy greatly.
Caroline Ford set off well and by the middle of the first lap had established herself in third place which she maintained for some time only dropping to fourth towards the end of the final lap. She looked pretty comfortable throughout but that may have been a game face judging by her later comments on the long hill! Louise Knight making her first appearance in the Cambridge colours set off conservatively to test out a troublesome hamstring but soon began to pick people off one by one. A good sprint on the uphill finish kept off the challenge of a Central Park runner and very nearly gained her another place. She was soon followed by Lara Atkinson who was making her first attempt at the much longer 5k distance. Another newcomer Hayley Newman settled in well and was closely followed by Sue Dixon and Christine Bond. By the second lap they were running as a group and so supporting each other well. Next came Rose Baker who was relieved not to be in a scoring position because as usual she had been racing earlier in the week and had probably packed in a Parkrun as well. Further down the field Donna Martin was enjoying her first cross country since having a baby just four months ago. U20 400 hurdler Jade Fitt had a good run – its a very long way for a sprinter. Maria Macdonald was the only one disappointed at the lack of mud. In all we had 15 starters and 14 finishers.