HHH Veterans showed their mettle and came away from Oxford’s South of England Master Cross Country Championships with plenty of it!
Taking home team gold medals the veteran M50 squad enforced their significant superiority onto the morning race led home by a magnificent Keith Newton 5th placing followed by Vic Maughn in 8th and Gary Ironmonger 9th to close the team out to win with a 25 point margin. Tom Conlon 12th and Graeme Moyse 25th added to the team’s presence and could have made team placings even more competitive if it had not been for their mis-timing the start.
The 10km three lap Horspath Park course was a fine test for the true spirit of cross country with hills, wet clay fields, woods and mud interspersed with occasional obstacles and sharp changes of direction. The weather was near perfect for both athletes and spectators with near perfect blue skies and sun with December cool temperatures and the lightest of breezes.
Not to be outdone, Simon Coombes led the M40 team home whilst bagging an individual bronze medal in the afternoon’s race. Robin Jones followed up in 8th position, with his finest display yet of cross country running in a red and black hooped vest which included taking several athletes in the final 600 metres to the line. Jonathon Radcliffe ably closed out to produced a 3rd team place and more medals for our athletes. Trevor Chilton and Ben Halifax, came home in 32nd and 45th place respectively in their veteran debut cross country championships. Amazingly, Tom Conlon (declared a non-scoring runner) took on the tough course on for a second time in the M40 race to appease his angst to have missed the morning’s race start and clocked a time 30 seconds faster than his morning run!
Results:
M40 1st Chris Greenwood (Kent AC) 33-30, 3rd Simon Coombes 34-47, 8th Robin Jones 35-42, 46th Ben Halifax 45-43
M45 14th Jonathon Radcliffe 39-09, 32nd 44-43. (Non-scorer Tom Conlon 39-04)
M40-49 Teams: 1st Thames H&H 38, 2nd Chiltern Harriers 42, 3rd Herne Hill Harriers 50
M50 1st A. Leach (N. Herts) 35-37, 5th Keith Newton 37-04, 8th Vic Maughn 38-21, 9th Gary Ironmonger 38-40, 12th Tom Conlon 39-31, 25th Graeme Moyse.
M50-59 Teams: 1st Herne Hill Harriers 24, 2nd London Heathside 49, 3rd Horsham Joggers 66.