Chris Loudon selected to represent Scotland
Chris Loudon (M35) has been selected to represent the Scotland Masters team at the forthcoming British and Irish Masters Cross Country International in Dublin on 12th November, securing his selection when winning the Scottish trial in Glasgow at the end of September.
Kent Cross Country League, Swanley Park
The 2022/2023 cross country season got underway at Swanley Park on Saturday, in mostly dry and sunny conditions, on courses that were undulating with many twists and turns.
The senior men's race saw Dean Lacy at the most competitive that he has been for some years; he started conservatively but then put in a surge to join the leading group of three Tonbridge runners. As the group fragmented, he was at one point lying second but eventually had to settle for fourth. Chris Loudon, our top performer from last season, was always there or thereabouts in the chasing group, finally finishing 10th, his highest ever placing in a Kent League race. Tom Brooke and James MacDonald had a good battle slightly further back, Tom starting the faster but eventually being reeled in. Those four completed the four to score team, an excellent effort to come third. In recent seasons it has seemed as if our natural place has been a perennial fourth, so it is always satisfying to take the scalp of one of the three clubs who are usually above us, in this case Blackheath & Bromley. Let's hope that we can maintain this momentum for the remainder of the season.
Dean Lacy - Chris Loudon - Tom Brooke
(Photographs courtesy of Graham Maynard)
Behind our front four we had good strength in depth but unfortunately not quite good enough to break into the top three in the 12 to score team competition. It was Dom Fiore in 140th, running in his first cross country since before Covid struck, who had the honour of being our 12th finisher taking the team to another fourth place.
It was another great turnout for the club (as it often is on the first fixture of the season) we had 22 finishers in a field of 257. A 22 that included five running over the country in a Cambridge vest for the first time, a big welcome to Dan Easton, Robert Barns, Matt Durrant, Rich Bennett and Nathan Moncaster.
Earlier in the day we had three runners in the shorter M70 race, regulars from last season Keith Dungate and Peter Hadley being joined by Mick Ellsmore who has recently enjoyed a milestone birthday. An excellent 3rd place for Mick with Keith and Peter 7th and 8th respectively. It is a pity that there is no team competition in this event, but then we are the only club who managed to field three runners!
Top: Holly Dixon - Lucy Marlow - Lucy Foreman
Lower: Katie Sanders - Georgia Huddleston - Hayley Newman
(Photographs courtesy of Graham Maynard except of Lucy Marlow which is courtesy of Mark Hookway (Tonbridge AC))
In the younger age group races, there were some encouraging performances. Our four under 13 girls put in a fantastic team performance when placing third overall from ten teams. Celia Allen was first to finish for the club but hot on her heals were Celia Yeatman, Delilah Lester and Sophia-Rose Bonnar, all finishing within 14 seconds of each other. Iris Williams was our lone representative in the under 15 girls' race. Having moved up an age group and running with a few niggles she did well to finish 6th from a field of 40. Amelia Lawrence (having had a tough week of training and racing) also found herself our only representative for the club in the under 17 women's race when placing 10th from 28.
Delilah Lester - Celia Yeatman - Sophia-Rose Bonnar - Celia Allen
Amelia Lawrence - Iris Williams
(Photographs courtesy of Mark Newell)
Results:
Senior Men (7800m): 4 Dean Lacy 25:01, 10 Chris Loudon 25:52, 22 James Macdonald 26:42, 27 Tom Brooke 27:07, 42 John O'Mahony 28:04, 67 Steven Groom 29:40, 68 Luke Ford 29:41, 89 David Reader 30:33, 96 Christian Poulton 30:46, 108 Daniel Easton 31:22, 119 Guy Swarbreck 31:49, 140 Dom Fiore 32:39, 143 Robert Barns 32:48, 146 James Pitts 32:50, 160 Matthew Durrant 33:40, 171 Richard Bennett 34:14, 206 Martin Hawkins 36:14, 207 Clem Dixon 36:20, 218 Paul Ford 37:09, 229 Nathan Moncaster 38:08, 232 James Collis 38:40, 239 Ian McCarthy 39:19.
M70 (5200m): 3 Michael Ellsmore 26:20, 7 Keith Dungate 28:24, 8 Peter Hadley 29:03.
Senior Women (7800m): 3 Holly Dixon 28:42, 6 Lucy Marlow 31:10, 10 Lucy Foreman 31:20, 17 Katie Sanders 32:21, 23 Georgia Huddleston 33:13, 30 Hayley Newman 34:41, 35 Susan Dixon 35:10, 39 Cara Oliver 35:13, 65 Rose Baker 37:33, 87 Sally Carr 39:49, 90 Donna Martin 41:04, 96 Angela Ford 42:07.
W65 (5200m): 1 Maria Macdonald (W70) 28:40, 5 Anna Rowland 31:49.
YAG Boys: U17 (5200m): 16 Aidan Newton 19:13; U15 (4020m): 3 Samuel Scrase-Field 13:52, 5 Olly Buck 13:53, 14 Felix Tynan 14:36, 24 Aniket Iyengar 15:06, 56 Oliver Cook 16:54; U13 (3000m): 10 Alex van den Berg 11:10, 15 Monty Brown 11:18.
YAG Girls: U17 (5200m): 10 Amelia Lawrence 21:11; U15 (4020m): 6 Iris WIlliams 15:52; U13 (3000m): 11 Celia Allen 12:16, 12 Celia Yeatman 12:23, 15 Delilah Lester 12:26, 27 Sophia-Rose Bonnar 12:30.
Greenwich Schools Cross Country - Avery Hill Park
The club organised the annual Greenwich Schools Cross Country championships last week as part of its on-going marketing campaign. Just short of 450 children competed in the event which was held on a 3k course in Avery Hill Park with students coming from thirteen of the Borough’s Secondary Schools. Club promotional leaflets were handed out to the top ten in each age group.
Road Running
Megan Marchant travelled to Bath for the Bath Half-Marathon where she ran for 'Team Jackie' raising money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. Megan finished in 281st overall and 39th woman in a time of 1:25:39 a new personal best.
Greg Hill raced a bit closer to home when he took on the Chelmsford Marathon finishing in 47th position in 3:15:33.