Chiltern League Division II - 2004/05 Total Overall Score

Halton

Oxford

Luton

Watford

Wing

Total

1

MAIDENHEAD

876

805

750

904

749

4084

2

TRING RUNNING CLUB

810

723

677

818

600

3628

3

THAME RUNNERS

644

633

532

731

599

3139

4

SILSON JOGGERS

637

612

509

616

581

2955

5

HANDY CROSS

514

701

522

540

511

2788

6

BURNHAM JOGGERS

591

525

587

644

79

2426

7

QUEENS PARK H.

360

345

486

516

374

2081

8

GADE VALLEY

317

374

295

449

391

1826

9

WYCOMBE PHOENIX

383

571

320

361

137

1772

10

BANBURY

139

234

252

244

237

1106

11

STEVENAGE & NH

172

254

254

242

41

963

12

LINCROFT MIDDLE SCHOOL

147

136

152

163

103

701

13

HAYES & HARLINGTON

94

143

92

264

90

683

14

RADLEY A.C.

80

111

66

140

48

445

15

BIGGLESWADE

182

23

56

42

89

392

16

ST. ALBANS A.C.

60

129

121

54

364

17

BUCKINGHAM & STOWE

54

34

23

111

18

BRUNEL JUNIORS

15

21

43

13 February: Wing

So with much excitement we were off to the final league match of the season at Wing. Wing is generally famed as the best course of the league for spectators, however due to the weather there was very little spectating done by anyone. Rain, snow, wind and hail stones were the order of the day, which meant the course turned into a quagmire and the spectators all stayed in their cars.

It must be said though that the men had the best of the weather. Setting off first due to the rearranged time table the men only had to contend with the mud and the wind during their race. 3 laps of the course which comprises up and down the main hill twice and the crossing of both the little bridges where all the mud is. This area turns into around 1ft of mud which just keeping your feet in can be fun so care is needed not to fall over, however some did come a cropper. One guy had to stop as his spikes literally just fell apart.

Ian Robinson made a welcome return to cross country and probably wished he had chosen another day to make his return. However weather like this is part of cross country and Ian still seemed pleased to be back. Although it seems the time keepers weren't pleased to see Ian as they decided to omit him from the results! I managed to claw my way though the mud to finish 10th in the division which was enough to make me 2nd Senior Man and 5th Man overall for Division 2.

Michelle really had the worst of the weather. Having cheered her off at the start, Zoë and I went back to the car to get changed. No sooner had I finished getting changed then the heavens opened and rain, snow and hail stones all fell from it. We couldn't leave the car for over 10 minutes. So I guess running in that kind of weather cannot have been fun. Nevertheless Michelle had her best run of the season finishing 34th in the division and securing 5th Senior Woman overall for Division 2.

We then headed off to the awards ceremony which Charlie found far too much for him as he couldn't be bothered to stay awake to clap his dad and fell asleep. Well that's kids for you! (Matt Wilkins)

8 January: Watford

Despite messages on the website and cries for help in my previous reports, I headed off to Watford expecting the normal team of just 2 to turn out. However upon arrival I found Jack and Gary Nisbet both ready to run and we were soon joined by Michelle. This meant we had our biggest turn out of the season despite the windy conditions.

Gary ran in the U15 boys as he qualified in that age group by a mere 50 odd days which meant running nearly twice the anticipated distance. He came back a very creditable 15th announcing there was a large hill which the rest of us should be wary of. Bearing in mind he was running against boys nearly 2 years older than himself Gary should be very pleased with his run.

Michelle had her best run of the season so far finishing 33rd which is nearly 10 places better than her position at Oxford.

Jack and I set off in search of the large hill to find that we had to run up it twice and there was also another hill, both of us had fairly good runs finishing 7th and 23rd in the division. Only once the results came out did we find that Barry Nash had also competed even though he wasn't actually there! So we actually had 5 scorers for the day which meant we almost equaled our entire points hall for the season so far in just one race.

We scored 264 points and now have a total of 593, the big question is can we catch Lincroft Middle School on the final fixture of the season at Wing?

4 December: Luton

A perfect day for cross country, dry, cool and crisp. However another less than perfect turn out. Gone it seems are the days of having a turn out that consisted of entries into 3, 4 or even 5 categories. Again only Michelle and myself were there to represent the club. We decided not to let this dampen our spirits though and both had good runs.

Luton is not really one of the classic cross country courses in the Chiltern League. Although it consists on running over some farmers fields, or more precisely on the path next to them, the majority of the course is round the edge of a golf course or round the edges of the football pitches. This means that it is very flat with only one real hill and therefore very fast. Due to this Luton always seems to attract slightly more runners and they often fly off into the distance soon after the start. The men complete two large laps of the course whilst the women complete one large and one small lap. This means that in both races the field can get very spread out and chasing people can be quite difficult.

Michelle was 36th in the Division and 100th in the mob match, whilst I managed 69th in the mob match and 10th in the Division. This means that after 3 races Michelle is 12th Senior Woman in the Division and I am 3rd Senior Man.

30 October: Oxford, Horspath

Another fun day out with the sun shining and a great course. An improved turn out this time if only by one person. The aim next time round in December really has to be to get at least four people to come along, apparently we have a few interested parties, so maybe?

More good performances in the mud at Oxford. Well maybe mud was a little of an understatement, anyone who ran here two years ago will remember mud that resembled something out of the trenches from the Great War. This time round it wasn't quite so bad, but the mud did explain why people were running with gaffer tape wrapped round their spikes. There was more than one shoe left in the mud! 

This was proper cross country, which is something that the Met League really can't offer! The course consisted of a large hill which just seemed to go up and up with a flattish bit at the top then a long section that went down to the bottom of the hill again where all the mud was. The men went up and down the hill twice, which really sorted out the men from the boys, whilst I think the women went up the hill only once.

There was a welcome return for Barry Nash, who despite not running for the passed 7 years put in a very creditable performance to come home 175th in the mob match and 51st in the 2nd division. I had another improved run to finish 82nd in the mob match and 10th in the division. Michelle Sampson had another good run perhaps because she was in a hurry to go out on Saturday night, finishing 101st overall and 44th in the division.

This resulted in us scoring 143 points in the division, which was an improvement on last time, but we are still well down on last years all time high score. So come on guys and gals lets see if we can get a better turn out for Luton. (Matt Wilkins)

9 October: RAF Halton

This was the first time that RAF Halton has been used by the league although its been used many times for County trials and RAF races. Finding the venue proved easier than expected as although it wasn't on any of the maps it was well sign posted once in the area. Michelle and myself set off on our lonely trek without many of our usual cross country counterparts, though we didn't let this dampen our spirits. The day was fine with the sun shining and no rain to be seen. Once there, we were surprised by the amount of numbers given to the club as it said based on the entries from last season here were our numbers for this season. I'm sure there was nearly 50! 

The course turned out not to be the traditional fair served up by the Chiltern League, but more of a Metropolitan League race, run around the football pitches. Anyone thinking this was a flat course though should have second thoughts. The initial down slope to the start soon turned into the main hill of the course, which on the first small lap you only come across two thirds of the hill. Once on the main laps you soon realise how long the hill was and even once it was cracked there was still a second small hill which took you to the top of the course. The rest as they say was down hill although some parts were still relatively flat which meant that the field in most races was soon strung out once a lap had been completed.

Michelle had another good race finishing 47th in Division 2 and 111th overall earning 5 points. I finished 12th in Division 2 and 108th overall earning 89 points. So we finished with 94 points in total and a pretty good start towards our target of 800 points to beat last years total. Maybe with a little help from some of the other regulars we can surpass that total.

All in all a good day out rounded of nicely with a steaming hot cup of tea and listening to England trounce the Welsh at football on the way home! (Matt Wilkins)