Roadrunners chair SAM WHALLEY reports from King’s Park, Bournemouth, on the final event of the cross-country season…
There was a tense end to the Hampshire XC League season on Saturday, with Roadrunners men’s team finishing ninth on aggregate in Division One, and in the relegation zone.
This was despite men’s captain Tony Page’s best efforts to get a big team out. Home team Bournemouth did just enough to pull themselves out of the bottom two.
Skipper Tony said: “We’ll come back stronger than ever next season, aiming to win promotion at the first attempt.”
But he warned: “We will need to get more seniors out next year — all our runners at Bournemouth were vets.”
It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, with Lance Nortcliff claiming an individual V50 silver, and Helen Pool seventh vet overall for the season. Julie Sugden claimed a 5k PB during the women’s race.
Roadrunners men’s scorers were: Lance Nortcliff (42nd, 9th vet, first V50), Tony Page (113th, 46th vet, 13th V50), Jamie Smith (122nd, 53rd vet), David Fiddes (184th, 105th vet, 41st V50), Mark Allen (185th, 106th vet, 10th V60). The team were tenth on the day and ninth over the season.
Our men’s vet scorers were Nortcliff, Page and Smith, with the team finishing ninth on the day and fourth overall for the season.
Full results are here: https://www.hampshireathletics.org.uk/results/2023/20230304_hlmen.html
Roadrunners’ women’s scorers were Kat Charles (30th), Helen Pool (43rd, 11th vet), and Chloe Lloyd (54th). The team were tenth and finished ninth over the season but avoided relegation.
Our women’s vet scorers were Pool, Sam Whalley (96th, 46th vet, 15th V50) and Claire Raynor (97th, 47th vet, 16th V50). The team were sixth on the day and fifth over the season.
Full results are here: https://www.hampshireathletics.org.uk/results/2023/20230304_hlwomen.html
Thank you and well done to Pete Jewell, Gary Clarke, Claire Seymour and Stephanie Smith for also making the trip to the coast and giving it their all. We’re already looking forward to 2023-24.
Final results in the club’s XC Championships are here: https://readingroadrunners.org/2022/03/tvxc-results/
* Sadly, there are no images from Bournemouth. Our pictures show Lance and Helen battling it out in the previous Hampshire League fixture at Popham.