Sunday saw the last race of the Ness XC league race season at Hadleigh in Suffolk.
A 2 lap course well known for its challenging hills was made even tougher by the constant rain turning the course into a mud bath in places and making running very difficult. Going into the race Halstead were in top spot in Pool B meaning a good result on the day could secure them promotion to Pool A next season. With 22 runners turning out for Halstead their fate was in their own hands.
Completing his excellent debut XC season for Halstead, Matt Thomas didn’t let the conditions bother him to finish in a brilliant 9th place. Running in his 1st XC of the season, Wes Atkins proved he hasn’t lost any of his previous form finishing in an impressive 19th place with long distance specialist Nathan Roulson, who was running back to Halstead after the race, also securing a top 20 spot in 20th position. Bradley Doe continued his fine return to the XC scene, staying on his feet this time, coming home next in 42nd with XC team captain Steve May, enjoying the mud, securing a top 50 finish 3 places back in 45th.
James North, also impressing in his debut XC season, completed the men’s scoring team in 51st place. Joe Slee, despite having a challenging race & losing his footing a couple of times, finished strongly in 55th. Matt Biggin, another seasoned ultra trail runner, made his surprising debut on the XC scene putting his off road strength to good use finishing in 85th place.
Neil Poulter showed all his recent training is paying off to finish strongly in 100th position. XC regular Gav Ripton held off a late challenge to finish in 105th with Don Wilson also looking good not far behind in 108th spot. HRR men’s captain Perry James put in an excellent sprint finish, which he’s now well known for, to cross the line in 113th. The final 2 men home for Halstead were XC legend Andy Carter running well to finish in 125th with Darren Powell supplementing his marathon training with a bit of XC to bring HRR home in 133rd.
In the ladies race Vikki Suêtt put in a brilliant performance, describing the race as one of the toughest she’d run, to finish in 7th place. Rachael Roughan, making a welcome return to the Ness League, despite running 15 miles the day before ran well to finish in 29th spot, with Anoushka Springett completing her ever present season, having run every race in all competitions & having an excellent debut season, only 2 places behind in 31st. Emma Healy put in another consistent performance in the tough conditions coming home not far behind in 38th. Lorraine Garnham showed her love of the mud & made it back safely having got lost trying to find toilets earlier, to cross the line in 60th place. Not far behind her in 62nd was Maryann Sycamore, making an excellent XC debut for the club. The last 2 ladies to complete the course were Charlii Bower, who had been talked into running on the day, finishing in 68th with HRR ladies’ captain Victoria Metson, having also deciding late to run, hot on her heels having run together in 69th.
These excellent performances from everyone meant that Halstead finished top of Pool B on the day and ultimately top of the Pool B for season meaning promotion to Pool A was secured for next season. Well done to everyone involved in XC over the course of the season.
JUNIOR TEAM
HRR had a small but smiling team of juniors to finish the season off at Hadleigh, the final fixture in the NESS league. As usual, they all ran brilliantly on a very tough, wet, muddy and extremely hilly course. They set the standard high for the adults to follow. Amalie Twydell was first to finish for Halstead and placed 11th for the girls. Toby Metson was next, our only boy out on the course and he finished in 31st position in the boys race. Hannah Root and Evelyn Roulson were seconds apart with Hannah taking 22nd girl and Evelyn 24th. Well done to all the juniors who have taken part in XCountry this season.
HARE and TORTOISE RAYNEING MEDALS
John Warne took part in the Hare and Tortoise event on Sunday. The race was along the very muddy, very wet flitch way with the option of running just over 5k in different directions. Having not been able to train as much recently, John opted for the half marathon option and ran two loop in each direction. He was pleased with a finishing time of 2:39.18.
Great running John.
