The course started with a grassy loop around the perimeter of the sports grounds before heading off on the first of 2 (women) or 3 (men) larger loops in a more agricultural setting! The men's large loop included a few extra fields compared to the women giving course distances of 5.8km for the ladies and 10.5km for the men. There were not many hills in the course, just a few embankments to go up and over, but there were many very heavy sections, not least the so-called "swamp" (pictured above). On passing under a bridge, we were funneled into a narrow path through an absolute quagmire which sapped the strength for about 10-15m before we quite literally plunged into the swamp proper for a further 5-10m. This started off ankle deep and got deeper with each of the three laps. Prior to the senior men's race a spike was spotted floating in here and one of the U23 men was covered from head to foot in mud so had obviously taken a dive, something we all wanted to avoid. From here we diverted into a few small fields used for grazing sheep which were on a nasty camber but otherwise grippy for those wearing spikes, except for the gates in and out of each field which were all deep mud.
Official finishing order and times are now confirmed.
Looking strong throughout and enjoying herself, Joanne McEvoy (26:31) was first of our ladies today with Alison Lessells (27:17) using the race as an effective Christmas night out hang over cure not far behind. Frances Maxwell (28:05) completed our team and despite feeling the cold pre-race, soon warmed up and also had a strong run. Joanne now leads both the Grand Prix and Club Championships going into the Christmas break.
For the men we had a few last minute call-offs but were still well represented. I had a very tired run from start to finish (43:48) but was glad to have completed a tough cross country for the first time in a few years. Andy Henderson (48:01) had another very strong run in his age group and must surely have been one of the top M60's. Jim Holmes (49:42) thoroughly enjoyed the course and seemed to be handling the deep mud very well. David Herbertson (51:38) was making not only his first race for 3 or 4 weeks but more or less his first run, so not an easy comeback. Richard Lawton (53:04) had never competed in an individual West District XC and, ecstatic about daughter Emma's gold medal performance earlier in the day, also had a very strong run. Jim Mearns (55:23) was a late arrival but ran well in only his second cross country race; certainly one of the muddiest he will ever have to do. John McBride (57:29) was our only Harrier to lose a shoe in the mud, fortunately early on in the race while he still had the strength to retrieve it. Chas Steven (64:39) was in his element here and it is great to see Chas returning to form week after week following a few years of injury problems. Both Richard Lawton and Alan Derrick retain their leads in the Grand Prix and Club Championships respectively.
Most popular spectator, photographer and comedy corner was at the swamp where we were all glad to be cheered on by our ladies team, Ruth who had dashed to the course from work and Russell who was there enthusiastically organising our race numbers and providing words of motivation. Finally, it was only a short walk to the showers (luke warm to cold by the time we arrived but good enough for removing the mud) and a hot coffee. A big thanks to Richard for organising the club tent and for the many hands who helped put it up and take it down.
There will be many photos to come (probably all at the swamp) but for starters, here are the photos taken by Alison.
Lots of photos from official photographer here.
Alan
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