Our flagship 10/20 event at Bramley was cancelled because of the weather but the driving rain and high winds were no match for the Roadrunners’ Hampshire Cross-Country League team at Popham, writes men’s captain TONY PAGE.
In the fact our ladies team seem to be enjoying themselves, though to be fair that was before the race had started!
All of the results are now in and the great news is that the RR men’s fifth place on Saturday was enough to secure our place in the prestigious First Division for another season as we climbed out of the relegation zone up to eighth.
This included an excellent 40th place from new member, Dave Boulton, who was second to Ben Paviour (31st and third vet). Our men were the first-placed vets team at Popham, and fifth over the season.
The remainder of the scoring team for the men were Sibrand Rinzema (43rd), Mark Worringham (51st and sixth vet) and Tony Page (59th and 10th vet).
The ladies had a strong finish to the season too, with tenth place at Popham, led home by Hannah Green in 27th. This was enough for ninth place over the season.
Most pleasing was the day’s sixth place which saw our vet ladies secure a bronze-medal finish to the season. The remainder of the scoring team were Helen Pool (47th and 12th vet), Chloe Lloyd (61st), Emma Paton (66th and 23rd vet) and Sam Whalley (39th vet). Well done ladies.
Both Helen and Sarah Dooley clinched places in the League’s vet ladies top ten with their efforts over the season.
There were lots of excellent performances across the teams, in very challenging conditions. Roadrunners have gone from strength to strength in the final two fixtures of the campaign and we want to keep the momentum up for the Nationals at Parliament Hill Fields this coming Saturday… and for next season!
I would really encourage everyone to try the Hampshire League and experience the excellent team spirit for themselves.
As is traditional, we rounded off the season with great night out at the Market House in Reading on Saturday night. A good time was had by all, and there were a few late starts on Strava today!
The Hampshire League results and final placings for the season can be found here:
https://www.hampshireathletics.org.uk/results/2022/20220219_hlmen.html
Meanwhile those of us who slogged through that mudbath aren’t in the least bit jealous of our team-mates who enjoyed great runs in the Spanish sunshine, chalking up five PBs in the Seville Marathon. Well, just a bit…
Many congratulations to Paloma Crayford, Carmen Fuentes, David Clay, Sarah Dooley and Chris Webber, as well as all the others who did us proud there.