The weather was overcast but the course conditions were significantly better than last year, being firm underfoot, but still heavy going in long, clumpy grass and sticky mud. There were few places for respite on a flat course, it was certainly energy sapping.
The women’s race was, again, the third and final race of the day, so the course was a little churned up from the two previous races but still mostly firm. A small loop and a large loop made up the 6km course.
Kate Raven, racing her first cross-country was first across the line for Walton in a brilliant 8th place. Only a second later, and closing fast, was team captain Mandy Ruks in 9th place. Improving from 15th in the first fixture. Excellent runs from both women, well done. Mandy, who finished 2nd W45, is now sitting in 3rd overall for the season in the W45 standings.
Lizzie Amos was next in an impressive 15th place, again, improving from 19th in the first race. Excellent running Lizzie. Team manager Michelle Tafili was 4th Walton scorer in 29th place on her return from injury. A great result. Helen Channon, rounded off the women’s team in 41st place, meaning the entire team finished well within the top half of the field of 109 division 3 runners.
The team finished 3rd on the day, adding to the 3rd place from match 1, meaning they are flying high in 3rd overall after two races. A very impressive start to the season. Well done ladies!
Now to the men, and for once, there was no downpour during the warmup.
A congested and winding first kilometre meant a slower than normal start, but it then opened up into two large laps around the field for a total of 8km.
Craig Jarman was once again the first Walton athlete home in 27th place, followed soon after by team captain Duncan Woolmer in 42nd and Jani Kraner, showing good form to finish 44th scorer. A repeat of the first three home in the first fixture. Well done guys, valuable points earned!
Alfie Pike continued his good form to finish as Walton’s 4th scorer in 53rd place. Around 20 second later, team manager Robert Smith and Jonathan Hiorns came home in 61st and 66th place respectively. Another strong showing from this trio. Jonathan improving upon his previous finish by 11 places. Alfie is now sitting in 4th place overall in the U20 standings after 4 races.
Oliver Coppellotti was 7th Walton scorer in his first outing of the season, having run from the carpark to the start line as a warm-up, just in time for the start of the race. Despite this, Ollie ran well to cross the line in 82nd place. Ollie was followed by debutant Sam Holloway in 92nd and only a second later a fast-finishing Charlie Hobbs in 93rd. We look forward to watching the battle between these two unfold over the remainder of the season.
The ever-reliable Chris Ness finished the scoring A team, crossing the line as 97th scorer. Well done Chris, another strong run. Just two seconds later, another debutant Dominic Reed finished as Walton’s first B team scorer, 38th in the B race standings, and Ben Harling not far behind in 41st place in the B race.
Rounding up the Walton team was Ollie Sayner, finishing 51st in the B race, over 5 minutes faster than he ran this course last year, an impressive improvement. Well done Ollie.
For those of you that like a stat:
According to the Surrey league website, which has results listed for women back to 2013/14. The total of 102 points achieved by the women’s team this week is their best ever score.
Well done and thank you to all who made the trip to Oxsted, we look forward to seeing all of you at Oxshott in January.
