The third Chiltern League match of the season took place at Culham on Saturday 5th December and was a tough event. The course, which has not been part of the league for some years, is very hilly and challenging even in the best of conditions; add the terrible weather which most of the UK suffered from over the weekend, and you have a very difficult course indeed for all age groups. This was the lowest turnout in every age group this season, which surely has to relate to the weather conditions.
Our senior men had the best turnout for Vale with 12 competitors. Charlie May was first man home in 22nd place in a time of 32:44; Rob Taylor, continuing his strong season wasn’t too far behind finishing in 34:38 and he was 4th V40 to finish on the day. Sean Wilson was third Vale back in 35:01.
We had just one participant in both the U17 and U15 events – Harri Kane finished 7th in 22:24 in the older age group and Ben Lindars 35th in 16:54 for the U15s. Four Vale runners took part in each of the U13 and U11 events and well done to all of you in winds that nearly blew some of you over. In the U13s Ted McQuade was first Vale home in 12th spot in 10:36; William Ratcliffe finished in 11:20; Nathan Jones in 11:35 and Patrick Scarhill in 12:35. All of these races earn points for us in the League, the U11 races don’t, but are nevertheless important. Freddie Kane was first U11 home for Vale in 7:28, Timothy Fryer was second in 7:57, Ethan Perry 8:04; Woody Day 8:20 and James Redding 9:44.
There was a low turnout in the ladies races, but that was the same from all Clubs. Rosanna Iannone was 18th in a time of 27:09 and Julia Austin finished 23rd in 27:56; Julia was 1st in her age category to cross the line. Natalie Chandler and Vicki Sheldon completed the course in 30:34 and 33:33 respectively. Leonie Glasson was our only competitor in the U20/U17 race coming in 26th in 23:44.
The race of the day for Vale was undoubtedly the girls U15 race where Kitty Shepherd-Cross and Tia Wilson of Bedford had a fantastic race. A spectator reported that the girls were neck and neck all the way around and way ahead of anyone else. Within 10 metres of the line, Kitty gritted her teeth and nudged in front, almost collapsing at the end. The spectator said ‘Kitty was just amazing’ Kitty’s time was 15:01, Tia’s 15:02, and to judge how far ahead they were, the third athlete finished in 15:40! Also in the race for Vale were Rebecca Lee who finished in 17:33; Esther Kelly in 19:34 and Charlotte Armitage in 25:06.
The U13s and U11s again struggled in the high winds but they all worked very hard. Zoe Armitage was first Vale home for the U13 girls in 10:39 and Anna Cuthbert finished in 11:40. In the U11s, Mary Drewett finished 16th in 7:38, Iona Royce ran 8:02; Kate Abrams 8:13 and Keri Armitage 10:44.
Congratulations to all who took part in a very tough race. Full results are available at: http://www.chilternccl.co.uk/results.htm