Gloucester Cross Country League

Blackbridge Sun. 14th Oct. 2006

Above: Tracey (left) & Kirsten stride out on the opening lap.

It’s a sign of old age when the Summer flies by and the XC league seems to start just weeks after the mud had been cleaned off your spikes back in March. However the opening fixture of this year’s Gloucester League, held appropriately in Gloucester, saw the club bolstered by three runners making their XC debuts. Kirsten Walton and Tracey Jones who train with the Ryland group on Mondays ran in the women’s race and track specialist, Jamie Dancyger, having opened his half-marathon account off-road at the Wyre Forest in July, was a welcome addition to the men’s team. Full marks to Tony Woodward, our team manager for this league, for drumming up interest & making sure we got a team out. Conditions at Blackbridge couldn’t have been better with the flat course just soft enough to take a spike and no mud.

As in last season, our only runner in any of the younger age categories was Simon Lanckham who ran 20-35 to finish 10th in the U17 Boys 5.7 km race. Stroud & District’s Matthew Withey won in 18-37.

Above: B&R women’s team (Tracey, Kirsten & Jane) – would they still be smiling after the race?

The women’s race over one start lap and two large laps was a relatively long one at 7.7 km. Kirsten Walton lived up to the promise of her vet’s prize at the North Worcestershire MT8 two weeks ago to be the first B&R woman home in 39th place. Fellow XC debutant Tracey Jones ran well to finish 47th in spite of saying that the race was harder than she had expected. Jane Anderson was just over half a minute behind in 51st so B&R had the three finishers needed for a team (15th out of 21) and as they were all vets, also scored in the vets competition (6th out of 10). There was a very good turnout of 84 in the women’s event and as always it was a very competitive race with Gloucester AC’s British international Emily Pidgeon holding off Swansea Harrier Sarah Waldron by seven seconds.

Left: Kevin Lanckham still running strong on the last lap. Right: Jamie Dancyger even has time to wave for the camera.

Above: Most of the B&R men’s team. Jamie, Tony, Phil, Lewis (muddiest supporter), Roger, Gavin & Len. Kevin had shown us all a clean pair of heels was dressed and away already !

Seven B&R runners lined up for the start of the men’s 11.1 km race but only six finished as Len Quartly had to drop out with an ankle injury after the start lap and the first of three large laps. The other six runners all finished to ensure that B&R got a placing in the senior men’s table (10th out of 14) and in the veteran’s category (6th out of 10 with 4 runners to count). As expected, Kevin Lanckham was our leading finisher running under 40 minutes to finish 20th. Gavin Moorhead ran well to finish 45th and looks to be hitting form for the Birmingham League. On his first XC race for the club, Jamie Dancyger ran sensibly to move gradually through the field and used his track speed to pick up places on the last lap especially, pipping a Leamington runner for 50th place on the line. Fourth counter Phil Anderson clocked a disappointing 47-00 to finish 90th. There was a battle royale between B&R’s two most senior runners Tony Woodward and Roger Beacham. Tony led Roger for most of the race but the distance told towards the end with Roger managing to pass him late on the last lap. We can only hope that Roger got it all out of his system at the fields before they had to share the car journey back to Bromsgrove.

Next XC: Men’s Birmingham League & Midland Women’s League at Senneleys Park in Birmingham on Sat. 28th October.

Next Gloucester League XC: Pittville Park, Cheltenham on Saturday 18th November.

Full results (pdf) are available on Gloucs. AAA web site (Click Here)

Leading finishers & B&R results:

U17 Boys 5.7 km

1 Matthew Withey (Stroud) 18-37

10 Simon Lanckham (B&R) 20-35

Junior, senior & vet women 7.7 km

1 Emily Pidgeon (Gloucs)  27-27

2 Catherine Dugdale (Swansea) 27-34

3 Sarah Waldron (Gloucs) 27-42

39 Kirsten Waton (B&R)  34-57

47 Tracey Jones (B&R)    35-48

51 Jane Anderson (B&R)  36-26

84 finishers

Senior women’s teams (3 to count)

1 Cheltenham               40 points

2 Stroud & District      42

3 Leamington               44

15 B&R                  137

21 complete teams

Veteran women’s teams (3 to count)

1 Tewkesbury              77 points

2 Clevedon                 102

3 Bourton RR            123

6 B&R                   137

10 complete teams

Junior, senior & vet men 11.1 km

1 Vito Graffagnino (Clevedon) 36-22

2 Julian Wilkie (Cheltenham)  36-39

3 Dennis Walmsley (Bourton) 36-52

20 Kevin Lanckham (B&R) 39-35

45 Gavin Moorhead (B&R) 42-19

50 Jamie Dancyger (B&R)  42-52

90 Phil Anderson (B&R)      47-00

121 Roger Beacham (B&R) 52-29

125 Tony Woodward (B&R) 52-59

141 finishers

Senior men’s teams (6 to count)

1 City of Bath               95 points

2 Severn AC                100

3 Gloucester                182

10 B&R                   451

14 complete teams

Veteran men’s team (4 to count)

1 Gloucester                 176

2 City of Bath               198

3 Forest of Dean           202

12 B&R                    356

16 complete teams

(PA 15/10/06)