Today's Runner XC at Minnis Bay - 16/1/00For the first Today's Runner race of the Millennium we had another good turnout of 22 Harriers at this infamously muddy event of about 4.75 miles held near Birchington. The weather was not too bad this year, although a chill NE breeze did not help the runners, and the terrain was as sticky as ever. Sasha Daniels, who has come from New Zealand to live in Canterbury, did not seem to mind the conditions since he came 5th overall and 3rd in the actual league race in his debut run for the club. His placing, together with Simon Kendall's 7th, Fraser Wildman's 14th and Roy Palmer's 18th (and that was despite feeling unwell), and the women's solid team performance, meant that we finished 3rd in the combined event on the day. Dennis Hayes also put in a good debut league race for the club. For the women, Dianne August had a very good run and Emma Hodges competed in her second XC for the club to help us to 7th place on the day in that competition. Erica Akerman also ran, adding weight to the theory that she only goes in for the really tough races these days! However, she did not make it as tough for herself as Steve Craswell and Mick Hunt did, both running (or sliding!) round the course in ordinary trainers. There were 211 finishers in total with 148 competing in the men's league race and 57 in the women's. The winning time in the men's league race was 26:59 by James Batchelder and in the women's it was 30:39 by Tina Oldershaw. In the junior race that preceeded the main event, Jack Parnell once again won easily in a time of 11:50 with Andy Dowell putting in a brave effort only to lose second place in the final stretch and come 3rd in a time of 12:51. In the figures below, after the time the next column shows the overall position, the following one the position in that individual's league race (i.e. ignoring guests and runners of the opposite sex) and the final column shows the performance rating i.e. the percentage of runners beaten in that league race. Senior Race Sasha Daniels 27:51 5 3 98.6 Simon Kendall 28:51 9 7 95.9 Fraser Wildman 29:52 16 14 91.2 Roy Palmer 30:07 20 18 88.4 Keith Crossland-PageV40 33:25 59 53 64.6 Gerry ReillyV50 33:38 63 56 62.6 Graham BrownV50 34:14 70 63 57.8 Dennis HayesV40 34:28 73 66 55.8 Bob DavisonV40 34:49 76 69 53.7 Dave LightburnV40 35:31 83 75 49.7 Alastair Telford 36:47 102 91 38.8 Roy GoodersonV40 37:04 108 95 36.1 Mick HolmansV40 38:04 119 103 30.6 Dianne AugustV40 39:11 139 20 66.1 Carol Reid 39:41 142 21 64.3 Fayne StoneV40 40:14 151 26 55.4 Emma Hodges 41:23 160 29 50.0 Steve Craswell 41:55 164 128 13.6 John HartleyV50 42:36 172 134 9.5 Mick Hunt 42:50 175 136 8.2 Sue ReillyV45 44:33 186 39 32.1 Erica AckermanV50 53:21 205 54 5.4 Combined League Placings After 5 Events 1 Medway AC 72pts 2 Paddock Wood AC 71 3 Istead & Ifield H 66 4 Canterbury Harriers 56 5 Sevenoaks AC 53 6 Thanet RR AC 48 7 Maidstone H 40 8 Invicta EK AC 38 9 Swanley & District AC 36 10 New Eltham Joggers 34 11 Bromley Vets 21 12 Gravesend RR 20 13 Sittingbourne Striders 17 14 Plumstead Runners 16 15 Dartford H 14 Ladies' League 1 Paddock Wood AC 74pts 2 Medway AC 55 3 Istead & Ifield H 54 4 Thanet RR AC 51 5 Invicta EK AC 49 5 Canterbury Harriers 49 7 Sevenoaks AC 46 8 New Eltham Joggers 45 9 Swanley & District AC 44 10 Gravesend RR 34 10 Bromley Vets 34 12 Maidstone H 21 12 Plumstead Runners 21 14 Sittingbourne Striders 17 15 Dartford H 5 |