Herne Hill Veteran Men put in merely a solid representation at the Surrey County Cross Country Championship this Saturday 17/10/15 at Richmond Park. Many veteran stars were missing but the engine room did proudly to demonstrate the depth of talent representing the red and black hoops.
A delayed but welcome club debut from Fergus Power achieved a magnificent surprise individual M40 victory although he actually came an overall 6th in the combined age group category 10km race, and never even realised he was the first M40 athlete to cross the finish line; welcome to the HHH veterans’ winning machine.
Jon Key and Dave Peters had further quality debut runs to potentially win team M40 silver medals, but late entries did not count for team scoring, so Trevor Chilton closed the M40 team out in an actual 4th whilst Ben Halifax was playing team backstop.
The M50 team had at least eight athletes missing, including last year’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th individuals, due to injuries and other commitments. Andy Millbank again put in his regular appearance and solid effort in the county championship.
The M60’s for the first time in several years completed a full team, with thanks to a noble effort by Nigel Goodwin committing to race despite not being fully fit. Steve Knight earned himself a commendable third place and bronze medal in the M65 grouping with Valdis Pauzers completing to score for the age group team. Evergreen John Garber closed in the HHH performances at the competitive M70 age group.
The veteran cross country season has begun with a hesitant start, we look forward to moving up to the significantly higher standards we can and are able to demonstrate at the South of England Championships on 12th December at Biggleswade. Let’s make it a great vets team tour up in Bedforshire on that day. We don’t like doing ‘get by’ and don’t deserve to.
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