Haughley Park, Stowmarket, Sunday January 11th: The third fixture of the Suffolk Winter XC League 2025-26. In this league, Newmarket Joggers (NJ) join forces with Sudbury Joggers (SJ) to form team N&S. N&S brought a total team of 14 women and 23 men to the event, which was more than enough for a complete set of A, B and C teams. For competition purposes, women’s teams comprised 4 members each and men’s teams 7 members each, with combined teams comprising 4 women plus 7 men. The A teams included the first 4 women and/or 7 men to finish the race for each club; and so on for B and C teams. The 8km (5-mile) 2-lap course was mainly along enclosed, wooded trails in Haughley Park, with some open grassland at the start and finish.
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Above: Newmarket & Sudbury Joggers at Haughley Park, Stowmarket
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The official results and times have not yet been released, but we do have the overall finishing positions of our Newmarket & Sudbury runners, as presented below. The official results will be based on gender finishing positions, rather than overall positions.
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Women’s A team: Isabelle Talbot Price (NJ) 31st of 400 overall; Sarah Osborne (NJ) 61st; Cienna Carter (NJ) 120th; Helen Hilario (NJ) 159th.Women’s B team: Elke Hausler (NJ) 213th; Eleanor Bithell (NJ) 264th; Ruth Cowlin (SJ) 297th; Helen Wass (NJ) 327th. Women’s C team: Angela Drury (NJ) 328th; Rebecca Austin (SJ) 340th; Angela Underwood (NJ) 354th; Belinda Schofield (NJ) 371st. Women’s reserves: Sianie Painter (NJ) 379th; Pearl Fay (NJ) 396th. An impressive repeat 1-2-3 by our first three women to finish, as in the previous fixture at Woodbridge in December, with Isabelle Talbot Price believed to have achieved first overall female finisher position.
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Above from left: Angela Drury in the race; Ellie Bithell & Helen Hilario; Oliver Hilton, with dad James.
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Men’s A team: Oliver Daykin (NJ) 10th of 400 overall; James Smith (NJ) 12th; Mark Hayward (NJ) 17th; Jason Bevan (NJ) 30th; Jack Imrie (NJ) 34th; Gordon Irvine (NJ) 41st; Barley Woodcock (NJ) 43rd. Men’s B team: Paul Holley (NJ) 45th; Andrew Sandeman (NJ) 92nd; Charles Jones (NJ) 105th; Richard Defries (NJ) 121st; Stephen Edwards (NJ) 127th; Shane McAndrew (NJ) 152nd; Phil Blundell (NJ) 170th. Men’s C team: Craig Dykes (NJ) 184th; Tom Elton (NJ) 211th; James Hilton (NJ) 214th; Marc Drury (NJ) 220th; Neville Clarke (NJ) 222nd; Rob Hawkins (NJ) 273rd; Brian Munns (NJ) 338th. Men’s reserves: Jim Withers (NJ) 381st; Chris Aylmer (NJ) 400th. Top performances by Oliver Daykin and Jimmy Smith, with excellent support from the rest of the team.
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Above left: Jimmy Smith showing how to run downhill into a crater; right: Jack Imrie in foreground; also Sarah Osborne up with the pace.
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It was great to have four Junior Newmarket Joggers competing in the Junior 3.5km race: Harvey Thomas U15B 19th of ~70 overall; Sophie Blundell U15G 44th; Noah Poujardieu U13B 48th and Rio McAndrew U13B 54th. Well done all those and also Oliver Hilton (U11B) and Charlie Thomas (U11B), who took part in the 800m Fun Run.
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Overall, these results look likely to have kept N&S in a strong position near the top of the league table, at least in the top three of the 22 competing clubs.
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OTHER EVENTS
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On Sunday, January 11th, Ian McClements took part in the Phoenix Doughnut Dash multi-lap event at Walton-on-Thames, near Windsor. He completed 4 x 3.28-mile out & back laps along the Thames Tow Path for the half marathon distance, clocking 2:43:01 and finishing 55th of 77 in the half marathon category. It was more of a social occasion with club colleagues than a race.
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Above: Ian McClements on the Thames Tow Path with friends from Stevenage Striders. He’s on the left of both photos.
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On the same day, Sarah Last and Gillie Green opted for the Resolution 5km Mud Run at Kingfishers Bridge Nature Reserve in the Cambridgeshire Fens, to the north of Wicken Fen. Sarah did well to clock 33:30 (according to her watch), possibly helped by the mud being more-or-less frozen, while Gillie came in at 45:46, finding it rather tougher. No official results were available at the time of writing.
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Above: Sarah Last & Gillie Green at the Resolution 5km Mud Run in Kingfishers Bridge Nature Reserve.
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Thank you very much for all the great photos on Strava.