On Sunday the Suffolk County Athletics Association held the annual XC County Championships at Ickworth. As ever the course is tough and is set to determine who the County Champions will be representing Suffolk at the Nationals to be held In Birmingham in March. The Ladies were the first to contest the course which had already been well broken in by Junior Boys and Girls who were competing, the ladies had to race an 8k route of 3 laps, first home and finishing in the top 10 to seal herself a place in the Nationals was Ursula Ransom who destroyed the field in the last lap picking off runners and sprinting up the 2 hills to finish 7th overall in 36:24, next home was Nicky Chapman in 26th position 41:26, followed by Tracey Apperley who is a Fell Running expert and relished the conditions 44:00, Belinda Schofield was next in 46:38, with Bee Chapman 49:43, Michelle Barnes 51:21 and making her debut for the club Gillian Green in 54:51, great performances by all saw the ladies finish 5th team overall.
The Men were equally well presented with 13 runners, however they had an extra lap to deal with as their course was over the extended distance of 12km and as the penultimate fixture of the day it was particularly treacherous underfoot along parts of the course and a few found themselves in unwelcome mud baths! First home for the club in 13th position overall was Paul Holley in 50:10, second for team and putting in a great performance was Martyn Taylor in 52:38 and 21st overall, Chris Gay was next in 55:24 (32nd) with Steve Edwards putting in an outstanding performance in the final lap to finish 34th in 55:32, Sam Sadler was next in 55:37 (36th) the first 5 for the club have all been granted places in the Nationals. Remaining results: Alex Cairns 56:53 (43rd) Ben Blowes 58:43 (49th), Joe Sadler 58:50 (51st), Neil Williamson 61:00 (66th), Neville Clarke 64:27 (80th), Adrian Whittle 66:08 (90th) Charles Shoolbred 66:22 (91st), Clive Purbrook 69:07 (97th). The men’s team finished 4th overall out of 14 teams in addition Neville Clarke was 1st Mv60 with Charles Shoolbred 2nd Mv60, Paul Holley was 2nd MV40.
The Juniors were in action on New Years Day and started the year fantastically well for club competing at Lee Valley New Year Competition results as follows:
Peter Elsdon-Dean (14) won his 800m heat in a PB time of 2:26:98 he was in the u17 age category, Rhys Turnbull-Bester, age 14 competing in the U15 age category in the 200m was another to finish 1st in his heat with a time of 29.23 also a PB, Theo Stasiak (14) competing in the u15 age category was 1st in his 60m heat with a PB time of 8:20, he was 3rd in his second heat in a time of 8:23, he also raced the 200m to finish 3rd in a time of 27:31 another PB. Paul Notley (15) competed in the u17 800m finishing in 2:13:16, Callum Wilkinson (16) posted a PB in the u20 800m finishing in 2:24:44, Maisey Snaith (12) was competing in the u15 and posted a PB in her 60m event of 8:38, Maisey then went up in distance to record a PB in the 200m of 27:47. Ben Snaith (18) competing in u20 was not to be outdone by the PB fest as he finished his 60m in first position in a time of 6:95 also a PB then went on to also win his 200m heat in a time of 21:80.
Also running on New Year’s Day were 2 Senior members who having run the Ely New Years Eve race followed up 24 hours later with the Wymondham 10, husband and wife team of Clive Purbrook and Belinda Schofield finished in 46:55 and 53:48 respectively.
Finishing the year off on a high for the club were 12 Newmarket Joggers who contested the Ely 10k on a cold, wet, windy New Year’s Eve, results as follows in finishing order: Chris Howell 39:52, Ben Blowes 40:57, Vincent Coogan 41:53, Neil Williamson 41:58, Chris Eyre 44:39, Noel Benn 45:47, Marcus Gynn 46:42, Clive Purbrook 47:22, Wendy McLaughlin 51:10, Belinda Schofield 53:31, Mike Sales 55:12, Michelle Barnes 58:09.
Running the Buntingford Year End 10 Mile race were 4 Joggers and first over the line was Ben Blowes in 1:06:13 (44th), closely followed by Gabriel Lowrie in 1:06:54 (50th), Neil Williamson was next in 1:08:48 (64th) and completing the team was Noel Benn who crossed the line in 1:18:31 (164th).
Newmarket Joggers Beginners Course starts on Monday 13th January and is open to everyone wanting to start running aged 18 and over, the full details of the 10 week course can be found at www.newmarketjoggers.co.uk or contact Neil Williamson at neil@newmarketjoggers.co.uk for further details and forms.