There’s nothing like listening to the rain in the night then waking up to blue skies to know that you’re going to have great conditions for XC! And so it was today for the second fixture of the Southern League at Alice Holt on 23 Nov.
This is a super fun course, with some fast sections on the wide gravel tracks mixed in with slower muddier sections through the woods with twists and turns and tree roots to navigate.
A bumper turn out from our men – congrats to Tim Draper, Osama Baldo, Danny Chatfield and Stu Meadows who were our scorers today and to Mark Buckle, Charlie Wallace, Tariq Hawa, Charlie Boffin, Nick Emmett, David Hicks, Neil Bellamy, Ross Maclagan, Craig Walton, John Gray and Will Hurley who also raced and will have held off many of the male scorers from other clubs.
We had a smaller ladies team today but a stellar performance from Ruth Briggs who came in 5th lady overall and our first scorer, with Lucie Lawton, myself, Helen Hart and Charley Howard also racing. Well done ladies! I’ll post the results as soon as they come through.
Thank you Matt for the lovely snacks and Trudie, Gill, Chris and Caroline for turning out to support, and Colin for photography. Thanks to Charlie too for bringing flags and gazebo. What a great team effort. Great to have new faces along to XC too – welcome to the madness Tim, David and Will!
The next fixture is our own hosted race at Lord Wandsworth on 21 December. Do please offer to volunteer/marshal if you’re able to, and of course I hope to see lots of you there out running!
Hannah, Cross Country Captain
