Promising start to the XC season by Newmarket Joggers

Suffolk Winter XC League: Framlingham Castle, Sunday 6^th November: Results have recently come through for the first XC race of the season. The muddy route of just over 5 miles was made up of two long laps encircling Framlingham Castle, including a section along the empty castle moat and a testing climb up the castle ramparts at the end of each lap. There were 431 runners taking part overall, from running clubs all over the region. Newmarket Joggers combine with Sudbury Joggers (SJ) in this league series, to become N&S. We had 16 male and 4 female runners representing N&S; enough for a full A and B team of men (2 x 7) and one full A team of women (1 x 4).

 

FYI: The ‘A’ teams compete against each other in the primary division, while ‘B’ and ‘C’ teams compete in their own sub-divisions, with separate trophies at the end of the series. The overall finishing position of each runner on the day decides which team they are in; teams are not chosen beforehand. So, the first 7 men or 4 women to finish for a club automatically become the A team. Incomplete teams (less than 7 men or 4 women) also count but are obviously at a disadvantage against other full teams. There are no teams lower than C but all runners can still compete individually in their age groups, with trophies awarded at the end of the season according to the best 4 fixture results out of (usually) 6 fixtures. There are end-of-season prizes for the first three places in all age groups up to 70+.

Men’s A team: James Smith (32:35, 4th M, 1st of 22 in M40) was first male N&S home from Mark Hayward (33:06, 7th M, 2nd in M40), Joey Bendall (33:51, 12th M, 6th of 69 in M20), Dan Hutchison (34:28, 16th M, 8th in M20), Paul Holley (35:13, 25th M, 1st of 49 in M55), Andy Fryatt (41:40, 114th M, 7th in M55) and Steve Edwards (43:58, 147th M, 14th in M55). It looks like James Smith, Mark Hayward and Paul Holley will be well in contention for age group prizes at the end of the series.

Women’s A team: Olivia Carter (43:25, 17th F, 6th of 20 in F20) was first female N&S to finish, from Sarah Pennock SJ (54:52, 74th F, 14th of 21 in F40), Belinda Schofield (56:04, 82nd F, 3rd of 6 in F65) and Ruth Cowlin SJ (56:08, 84th F, 9th of 19 in F55). Well done all the women’s team and great to see Belinda Schofield back in action.

Men’s B team: Neville Clarke (45:16, 163rd M, 1st of 10 in M65), Andy Buck SJ (45:21, 165th M, 19th M55), Robert Gourlay SJ (50:37, 226th M, 45th in M50), Rob Hawkins (51:02, 231st M, 37th in M55), Jeremy Reader (51:14, 233rd M, 44th in M45), Mike Sales (55:24, 259th M, 45th in M55) and Jim Withers (59:24, 270th M, 10th in M65). Neville Clarke looks set to take a high position in his age group. Well done Andy Buck, making a comeback after breaking his leg a year ago.

Men’s C team: Malcolm Osbourn (62:28, 280th M, 8th in M70+) and Chris Aylmer (63:25, 282nd M, 9th M70+).

In the team competition, N&S men’s A team stands 6th of 20 clubs in their division, with the women’s A team 12th in their division. The combined men’s and women’s A team stands 7th. Obviously, the best possible turnout will be needed by our members to improve on our team positions. In last year’s competition, N&S men’s A team stood 3rd in the table until the final fixture, when they slipped to 5th due to a lower than normal turnout, so there’s every hope we can make amends this season.

We were delighted to have one Junior Newmarket Jogger competing in the Framlingham junior race, before the senior race: Sean Rollinson did well to finish 14th of 22 in his U15 competition, in a time of 15:10. Apologies that the distance is not currently known but was likely to have been about 3km from the winning times.

Eastern Athletic Association XC Championships, Southill Park, Bedfordshire, Saturday 19^th November: The weather was dull and wet but the venue was in the beautiful grounds of the 18th Century Southill House, which overlooks its own large lake, plus acres of grazing pastures and woods. It has been home to the Whitbread family for over 200 years. This Championship meeting was open to England Athletics affiliated club runners in the 7 eastern counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. There was a 12km course for the senior men’s club and county competitions (seniors to under 60s) and a 6km course for the senior women’s competitions and 60+ men. There were shorter courses for junior races but we had no club representatives in those.

 

In the women’s 6km race, we had 6 Newmarket Joggers, forming 2 teams of 3, the ‘A’ team and ‘B’ team.  The first three to finish were Rebecca Oettle (26:32, 6th of 16 overall, 3rd of 6 in F35), Olivia Carter (26:48, 7th, 4th in SW) and Danielle Jones (30:27, 11th, 5th in SW), who did well to come away with 2nd place club team trophy, from Hunts AC. Rebecca also won 3rd place individual trophy for F35. Then came Wendy Ancill (30:50, 13th, 2nd of 5 in F45+), Nicole Smith (33:51, 14th, 3rd in F45+) and Pearl Fay (39:05, 16th, 5th in F45+), who were 3rd placed club team, although ‘B’ club teams didn’t count for trophies. Wendy Ancill did win a trophy for 2nd in F45+, so a good result for the women overall.

 

In the men’s senior 12km race, the results were based on the first 6 finishers of each club, which, for Newmarket Joggers, were Mark Hayward (41:53, 9th of 37 overall, 3rd of 14 in M40), James Smith (42:17, 10th, 4th in M40), Joey Bendall (45:00, 14th, 7th of 11 in SM), Paul Holley (45:36, 17th, 2nd of 12 in M50+), Marc Feary (52:15, 32nd, 12th in M40) and Jonathan Ollington (52:32, 32nd, 9th M50+). They did well to win 3rd team club prize, behind Peterborough & Nene Valley AC and Hunts AC. Mark Hayward also won a trophy for 3rd in M40 and Paul Holley for 2nd in M50+. Only slightly behind the top 6 was Andy Fryatt (53:03, 35th, 11th in M50+) with a very good run. Chris Aylmer (37:40, 10th in M60+) ran in the 6km race at the same time as the senior women, an hour later.

Four of our club runners were lucky to be representing Suffolk County as well as Newmarket Joggers. They were Olivia Carter for the Suffolk women’s team and Mark Hayward, James Smith and Paul Holley for the Suffolk men’s team. Mark Hayward was third Suffolk man to finish and received a 3rd place Suffolk team trophy, with Essex and Cambridgeshire 1st and 2nd. James Smith and Paul Holley were not far behind, in 4th and 5th positions for the county but only the first 3 counted for points. Olivia Carter was in 4th position for Suffolk women, so just pipped for a team trophy, with Suffolk finishing in 2nd place to Essex. All in all, a pretty good day’s work in terms of trophies and a lovely setting for a cross-country race.

 

Above left: Rebecca Oettle, Olivia Carter and Danielle Jones; 2nd club team position. Above right, Rebecca Oettle with her 3rd place trophy for the F35 age group. Thanks to all for the photos.

Hadleigh 10M, Suffolk, Sunday 20^th November: In wet and blustery conditions, Mark Hayward (57:47) was in great trophy-winning form, finishing 3^rd of 228 runners overall and 1^st of 18 in his M40 age group. This was just one day after his top run for Newmarket Joggers and Suffolk in the Eastern Athletic XC in Bedfordshire, as described above. Second Jogger home was Chris Underwood (1:10:26, 47^th overall, 18^th of 38 in MS) in his first trip over 10 miles this year. Then came Neville Clarke (1:14:26, 70^thoverall, 1^st of 6 in M65) in his usual, reliable form, carrying off the age group trophy.

EAMA 10K Wymondham, (sponsored by East Anglian Motor Auctions), Sunday 20^th November: Neil Williamson (49:43, 137^th of 446 overall, 21^st of 38 in M45) put in his best 10K time this year and is improving steadily.