The results were recently released for the first fixture of the Suffolk Winter XC League 2024-2025, which took place at Framlingham Castle on Sunday, November 3rd, over a GPS estimated distance of ~5.3 miles/8.5km. Newmarket Joggers (NJ) combine with Sudbury Joggers (SJ) in this league, to form ‘club’ Newmarket & Sudbury (N&S).
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Exciting to report that N&S men’s first team of 7 have taken a clear lead on 2,678 points from Felixstowe Road Runners (2,602) and Saint Edmund Pacers (2,600), out of 21 competing clubs (see table attached). The N&S combined first team of 7 men + 4 women are also doing well in second place in their separate table, while the N&S women’s first team of 4 are currently holding their own in 6th position.
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The N&S men’s first team, with time and gender finishing positions shown, was made up of Joey Bendall NJ 32:58, 8th M (Male) of 277; Rob Dobson NJ 33:21, 11th M; James Smith NJ 33:24,12th M; Oliver Daykin NJ 34:23, 18th M; Dan Hutchison NJ 34:38, 21st M; Hugh Tawell NJ 35:49, 27th M; Chris Balmer NJ 36:11, 32nd M. The women’s first team members were: Sarah Osborne NJ 40:37, 10th F (Female) of 153; Olivia Carter NJ 43:32, 20th F; Helen Hilario NJ 50:20, 53rd F; Rachele Cooper NJ 52:04, 72nd F.
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These results are an encouraging start to the season, with the next fixture at Rock Barracks on Sutton Heath, near Woodbridge, on 1st December. N&S also had second (B) and third (C) teams competing for men’s, women’s and combined competitions, with a total participation of 21 male and 14 female members. These B and C team members were listed in a previous post; it’s good to include all the club members in this kind of team competition. Our N&S combined B team stand in second place in their table, while the men’s B team are top of their table and the women’s C team third in their table. The main focus of the league competition does tend to be on the club first teams, as not all clubs have enough runners for C, or even B, teams.
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Unfortunately, no official times were given out for our junior competitors Cerys Bithell (2nd of 6 in FU17), Alexander Balmer (10th of 17 in MU13) and Rio Mcandrew (13th in MU13). They all ran very well. Their course turned out to be approximately 2.4mi/3.8km according to Cerys’s watch; decidedly longer than the expected 3km. Cerys’s elapsed watch time of 16:35 (on Strava) has been used to calculate her age grade (67.24%) for the NJ women’s Grand Prix, in which she now stands =2nd with Belinda Schofield, with just the Woodbridge XC to go. Neither has yet completed a wild card race of 10km or 5mi with just 10 days to go, though they both look safe for a top 3 finish. In the lead is Helen Wass, who completed her wild card race at Carver Barracks earlier this month. Reliable times for Alexander and Rio are unfortunately not available for this run; great to see them both competing. Stephen Edwards looks rock solid for a win in the NJ men’s Grand Prix, with Marc Drury and James Smith currently 2nd and 3rd. Marc has his wild card race on 24th November, along with Angela Drury.
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Eastern Athletics Association XC Championships, Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds, Saturday, 16th November: As a quick follow-up to the above Framlingham XC event, Newmarket Joggers sent a strong men’s team to the EAA XC Champs at Nowton Park. There were junior, senior and veteran competitions taking place at club and county level. All senior men and veteran men under 60 had to run a 3-lap cross country race of ~12km/7.5mi, estimated at 11.4km/7.1mi from GPS.
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Our NJ finishers were: Rob Dobson MV45 39:54, 5th of 44 overall; Mark Hayward MV40 41:30, 8th; Oliver Daykin SM 42:24, 15th; Joey Bendall MV35 42:50, 17th; Hugh Tawell SM 43:35, 19th; Jimmy Smith MV45 44:00, 21st; Paul Holley MV55 47:31, 32nd; Dan Hutchison MV40 50:16, 36th.
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Above: Joggers at EAA XC Champs, from left: Oliver Daykin, Rob Dobson, Jimmy Smith, Hugh Tawell, Joey Bendall, Mark Hayward. Thanks for the team photo.
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The most notable achievements for Newmarket Joggers were: 1st place club team of 3 veterans (Rob Dobson, Mark Hayward and Joey Bendall) and 2nd place club team of 3 seniors (Oliver Daykin, Hugh Tawell and Jimmy Smith) [Note: Vets could run as seniors, not vice versa]. The greatest honour was for Rob Dobson and Mark Hayward to be in the first team of 3 Suffolk County runners, finishing in 2nd place to Cambridgeshire. Rob Dobson MV40+ (EAA)/MV45 (EMAC, Eastern Masters Athletics Club) was first home of all 30 veteran male runners, with Mark Hayward MV40+ 3rd. Paul Holley was 1st in MV55 (EMAC). It’s rather complicated to work out exactly who came where in veteran bands, as the bands were different for EAA and EMAC, not all veterans were registered with EMAC and some veterans were down as seniors.
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In the MU15 junior competition, Junior Jogger Harvey Thomas (14:37) competed in the ~4km race, finishing 27th of 39 in his best ever time over the distance. He is having a great year over track and cross-country.
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Above: Harvey at Nowton Park for EAA XC Champs. Thanks to Harvey and Cheryl for photo.
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St Neots Riverside Half Marathon, Sunday November 17th: Two Joggers competed in this race. Meera Mahadevan (1:53:53, 622nd of 1,111 overall, 40th of 136 in F45-54) achieved her best half marathon time since 2015 and is making great progress this year. Lynda McCormack (2:34:50, 1,083rd, 53rd of 61 in F55-64) also put in a good effort, after a year of very light racing since clocking an excellent 2:19:10 in the Cambridge Half Marathon last March.
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Above: The start of the St Neots Riverside Half Marathon. Thanks to organisers’ website.
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Also on Sunday was the EAMA 10K (East Anglian Motor Auctions), at Wymondham, Norfolk. Suzanne Bailey (59:03, 459th of 671 overall, 146th F of 283, 6th of 12 in F60-64) did very well to break an hour after a year of niggling injury problems.
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Above left: Suzanne Bailey finishing EAMA 10K at Wymondham; right: Autumnal scene of the course in Wymondham. Thanks to Suzanne and Total Race Timing for photos.