Gloucester Cross Country League (3)

Plock Court, Gloucester

Saturday 9th December 2006

Good team results and fine individual performances

Left: B&R’s first woman finisher Tracey Jones. Right: Dave Henderson second scorer for the men’s ‘A’ Team.

This was yet another well supported event by B&RAC with 20 runners and 6 supporters.

Most B&R athletes who had raced over the Leamington ‘Himalayas’ the previous week, were initially relieved to see the flat cross-country course at Plock Court. The only sceptic being Phil Richardson who had been wrongly convinced that Leamington was also flat!! Any thoughts of an easy run, however, were dispelled within the first mile of each lap, as runners were confronted by ankle deep sticky mud immediately followed by long stretches of deeper low lying water. Shades of ‘Dr Foster went to Gloucester…….?’   The rest of the course, though less difficult, was still tough to negotiate after the recent heavy rains with stamina sapping muddy sections at many of the turns.

Left: Women’s team captain Ann chased by a Gloucester runner. Right: Bridget having a happy birthday.

The Senior Ladies two lap race (approx. 4 miles) had 87 runners and produced the Club’s run of the day by the ever-improving Tracey Jones. After the first lap, Tracey had opened up a good lead over the Club’s other four lady runners who were all so close together you could have covered them with a blanket. Then, despite that chasing group’s best efforts to get on terms, a tiring Tracey held on to be B&R’s first lady home in 37th spot in an excellent time of 28:19. Within the next 30 seconds, Ann Stuart, Jane Anderson, and Kirsten Walton, who were all involved in close finishes, completed their race in good times. Despite feeling unwell, and no she hadn’t been celebrating her birthday early, Bridget Birch, still recorded a good time in finishing the race in 69th spot.

Above: Jane & Kirsten cross the bridge for the second time on the first lap.

On the day, B&R’s Senior Ladies team finished 13th out of 23 teams whilst in the Ladies Veterans’ category, the team was 3 rd out of 9 teams. Unofficially and by my reckoning, of the teams which have completed each of the three fixtures, the B&R’s Senior Ladies are 10th (from 17) and the Veterans 3rd (from 6).

The Club’s sole junior representative was again Simon Lanckham. Competing in the U17 boys’ race over one lap he turned in another good performance to finish 8th out of 16 runners in a time of 19:00. Well done, Simon. The winner’s time was 17:21.

Left: Jamie running well in his second XC race. Right: Gavin exits the ‘Bull Field’ as Phil Richardson runs the other way.

Not to be outdone in the Senior Mens’ race over three laps with 171 competitors, dad, Kevin Lanckham, had a fine run and was first home for B&R.  Dave Henderson, Paul ‘the door is now fixed’ Atkins, Jamie Dancyger (in only his 2nd X/C), Gavin Moorhead, and Phil Anderson all gave great support to bring the ‘A’ team home in 7th place (from 18 teams) on the day. Again unofficially of 9 teams having completed all three fixtures, the Senior Mens’ ‘A’ team lies 5 th. The Vets team is 8th out of 11.

Left: Pete still smiling on lap three. Right: Dave Stokes strides out with under a mile to go.

For the 17th-placed Senior Mens’ ‘B’ team, Andy Freeman had a good run and was first to complete. Next was Peter Hawcroft who, back from injury, nursed himself into the race before passing David Stokes early on and then held his position despite late pressure from David and a fast finishing Phil ‘no hills’ Richardson.  Gordon ‘I wasn’t racing’ Marshall, with me never more than two or three strides behind him for 5½ miles, finally broke clear to be 5th back for the ‘B’ team….and Gordon and I were not holding hands, Jane.

Above: Gordon and Len never far apart until the last lap.

Of the other two runners, Roger Beacham was 1st in his age group and finished 148th, whilst commiserations go to an out-of-sorts John Manley who had to retire at 2½ miles after looking good for a high finish.

And then it was back to the warmth of the leisure centre where we enjoyed mince pies and hot beverages - apart from Jamie who tucked into pasty and chips.

Thanks to all the runners and to Tony Woodward for his encouragement at different points on the course (were there two of him?), and also to Fran, Lucy, Penny, Fraser and Emma for their support.

Len Quartly

Click to go to Photo Gallery of Women's Race

Click to go to Photo Gallery of Men's Race

Selected results are shown below

Click here for full results (pdf)