This weekend my club, Herne Hill Harriers, won the South of Thames 5 mile race. The South of Thames championships extend to any club south of the river Thames, that is affiliated to it’s association. This includes many well known clubs such as Herne Hill, Blackheath and Belgrave, plus many more big and some not so big clubs that fit that criteria. There are two races a year, the 5 mile race (formerly known as Junior) and the Championship race (formerly known as Senior). The 5 mile race, which takes place in November, is run over a distance of approx. 8k is competed for by teams of 4 scorers with a secondary 8 man team competition. The Championship race takes place in December, in the past it was January or December but was moved forward because of other cross country commitments, and is generally run over a distance of 12k with 6 men to score in the Championship race and a secondary 12 man team competition. The Championship race has been established since 1888, under a different title, with the 5 mile race commencing in 1910. I could go on but as this blog is about my personal experiences of the races I’ll refer you to the official website www.sotcca.org.uk/.
I’m a great lover of established races, it’s fascinating looking back at the names of previous winners, some legends that we all know, others surprisingly unknown despite being good enough to win a significant championship. I have a particular soft spot for these championships as I ran in the South of Thames Junior Championship in 1989, my third cross country race ever. Having run previous cross country races in the Surrey League, where I came 126th and suffered from a stitch and some derogatory remarks from Gary Staines, and the Reigate Priory relays, where I got confused at the takeover when our C team runner came in ahead of the B team runner, I’d, surprisingly, taken a shine to cross country. I’m not entirely sure why, perhaps it was the fact that, coming from 800m track races, I was now running in races surrounded by 100s of other athletes and it felt a friendly sort of place to be. Of course, unbeknown to me at the time, I was more gifted at longer distance races and because I started steady, using my stamina to surge through the field in the last two miles it was a nice feeling being able to beat a large number of runners, so perhaps that was the reason why.
On that occasion the race took place in Sevenoaks and was won by J. Thompson, of Herne Hill, I was just over 3 minutes behind in 95th. This was a huge improvement on my previous two races, perhaps explained by the barring clauses, that kept many great athletes from this race, but then there were many more teams than in the Surrey League and I did surprise Colin Pearson, the Belgrave Cross Country Team Manager of the time, who had put me in the ‘B’ team, only for me to beat 3 guys from the ‘A’ team. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. I absolutely loved the race and couldn’t wait for next year’s event. The Senior event was won by Ben Reynolds of Tonbridge (now he runs for local rivals Thames Hare and Hounds). When it was time to enter the event I had declined the offer as I thought 12k would be too far for me, though subsequent to that decision I ran the South of England and National Cross Country Champs, both over 9 miles – and it doesn’t get tougher than that.
The 1990 Junior event took place in Havant and was won by Blackheath’s Dave Heath. I improved to 67th position but still 3 minutes behind the winner. My most enduring memory from the race was the finish, that was uphill, I clearly had plenty left as we approached because I charged up the hill, passing a number of bodies but right before the line I edged out my Belgrave team mates Charlie Dickenson and Martin Lewington, though Charlie did stick his arm out to try to stop me. Having competed in more than a season of Surrey League races I was enjoying the different venues of the South of Thames races (though obviously a number would be held over Surrey League courses) and also the slightly easier fields of the Junior race, I was finishing about 30 places higher than in the Surrey League races. Once again I missed the corresponding Senior event, I can’t remember why, perhaps I was skiing. Ben Reynolds nearly did the doubly losing out on victory by 1 second to Portsmouth’s M. Harris.
The 1991 Junior event also saw me missing from the Belgrave team, I’d damaged one of my lateral knee ligaments and was having treatment and resting up. The winner on this occasion was Spencer Barden, of GEC Avionics, who would later become a team mate at Belgrave. But I was back for the Senior event, held on Wimbledon Common. Understandably I struggled with fitness over the 12k course, having had a few weeks off in December, and could only finish 141st. Almost 6 minutes ahead, Ben Reynolds was winning another title, ahead of future team mates from Thames Hare & Hounds, Andy Thomas and Jerry Watson.
At some point during this period I’d made up my mind that I’d like to win the South of Thames Junior title one day, of course the Senior title was well beyond me but with a best position of 67th in the Junior event I believed anything was possible. This is a great example of a THICK goal (read my blog about goal setting for an explanation of this). I made my first, premature, attempt at victory in the 1992 event, held at Margate. The race was won by Ian Hamilton of Invicta, I’d been in the top 10 for a while before fading to 21st, but encouragingly less than 2 minutes behind the winner. Yes winning this race was a possibility for me, but for now I’d have to settle for a team bronze. The corresponding Senior event was held at Coulsdon. Ben Reynolds was missing but Spencer Barden took victory and, just before I was about to explode onto the track scene, I managed a pretty creditable 35th position.
1993 was a real breakthrough for me, I had run some great times on the track and featured strongly in road relay events. I carried that form into the winter and, helped by the fact that Belgrave had been demoted to the second division of the Surrey League, ran into some good early form in Surrey League races. The Junior race was on home territory, Wimbledon Common, on 13 November and I was feeling pretty confident. But I couldn’t keep up with the relentless pace of Tim Dickinson and Liam Bulson, both of Blackheath, who I believed were joint winners, they ran exactly the same time, but the clipping I have states Tim was awarded victory. I was only 41 seconds behind, victory would surely be mine one day, and another team medal was in the bag, this time silver. By now I was being coached by Arthur Bruce, and between us we decided it wasn’t in my best interests to enter the Senior event which took place at Roehampton, it would appear that other’s in the team felt the same as only John Mather represented Belgrave and I have no idea who won the race.
I was missing again from the 1994 Junior championship, I’d sustained a groin injury towards the end of the summer season, I would have taken a break earlier, to get it sorted, but during the summer my Natwest colleagues and I had won the Corporate Challenge race in Battersea Park, the prize being a trip to New York to take part in the World Final. No way was I going to miss out on that so I kept training hard, and in a little discomfort. I finished 17th in that race, NatWest coming 2nd. But then I took a break and saw a specialist, which meant I was out of action when the race took place in West Wickham, It was won by Justin Pugsley of Boxhill. After two seasons competing at a higher level, I was more than ever convinced that I could win the Junior race, at this moment in time there were still barring clauses, so fearing I’d be barred from the Junior event I chose not to compete in the Senior event, at Esher, which was won by Simon Baines of Blackheath.
I sustained another minor injury at the start of the 1995 cross country season, which meant I wasn’t in the form I’d have liked to be in for the Junior race. It would have been a tall order to win it that year as it was loaded full of talent; Allen Graffin won from Tim Hyde, I was in 9th place but some notable names ahead of me were; Graham Adams, Rob McHarg, Paul Haywood, Andrew Graffin and, of most note, 6 seconds ahead of me was Alan Barnes. Belgrave took more silver medals, a strong Windsor Slough & Eton team preventing me from being barred from next year’s race. Getting closer to an individual medal I once again avoided the barring clause by not entering the Senior event at Brockwell Park, won by team mate Gary Staines.
I’d had a good first half to 1996, I’d improved throughout the cross country season and performed well in the road relays. On the track I’d come 2nd in the Surrey 5000m and then won the 10000m, but then I went a bit stale. I didn’t lose any fitness but I didn’t really seem to set anything alight. Luckily by the start of the cross country season I’d found my mojo again, finishing in my highest position, at that time, 13th, in the Surrey League, even leading the race for a while. When it came to the Junior race I knew this was my chance, I didn’t care who turned up, taking into account the likes of Matt Yates were eligible, I was going to do my utmost to win. I was turning 32 in the new year and I figured I wouldn’t have many more opportunities when I was at a good level of fitness. The race was held at Pyestock, near Aldershot and I was expecting some good opposition, particularly from local club, Aldershot Farnham and District.
We arrived early, about two hours before the start of the race. That doesn’t bother me, I’m very good at chilling out before races, if I’ve got time, I’m not so good at chilling out if there isn’t much time (though this aspect has got better since running the parkruns). I decided to go for an early jog around the course and then just relax. After surveying the course I came back with even more confidence, it was exactly my kind of course, firm, mostly flat, with just a small hill in it that wasn’t too steep. No mud, just one large puddle by a corner, in an awkward position. The only other potential hazard was a ditch, so I’d need to get to that without having too many people in front of me. The thing that pleased me most was that it was a 3 lap course, I love multi-lap events. So I got changed and waited for the start. It was disappointing that more top runners didn’t turn up, I was ready to take them on but they didn’t want to know, still there were enough good runners from Aldershot to make it interesting.
Alan Mead, Belgrave Team Manager, had brought myself, Kevin Quinn and Said Chettati, but nobody else from Belgrave had turned out. No soft options of team medals today, if I was going to win a medal I had to do it all on my own. As I lined up at the start I was brimming with confidence, I’d had a quick look at the opposition and I didn’t recognise anyone I thought was going to give me any problems, though you never know, people improve and new faces turn up so no place for complacency. We were off and I quickly settled into a bunch of about 9 going round the initial field and into the woods. There was a bunch of about 5 guys from Aldershot in the lead pack and a couple of them were cutting me up. I could have let this annoy me and lose concentration and tense up but I’d gained enough racing experience by now and, despite being a very polite runner and quite slight in stature, I found a couple of well intentioned shoves told them I wasn’t going to tolerate their messing about. Before the end of the lap Alan Barnes took up the pace and he and myself quickly found ourselves on our own at the front. Alan was the guy who finished just ahead of me in this race the previous year, but this year I was in peak form and I made my move just before we entered the 3rd and final lap. I stretched the lead and felt like I could go quicker if I had to. Towards the end of the third lap we came up against the large puddle, I’d avoided it on the previous two laps but it made me run awkwardly, this time, with a reasonable gap to Alan I decided to plunge through it. Big mistake, as I found myself in water that nearly reached my shorts, and in those days I wore shorter shorts than I do today. I waded through the puddle, trying not to panic, and checked where Alan was. Thankfully there was still a gap but as I set off again it was like running in a pair of slippers. Even so I got back into my stride and a few metres on we hit the field again where I was able to stretch out the gap a little more. So I finished with an uncharacteristic raising of my arms, my first ever cross country win and I was now barred from this competition for 10 years. I even got interviewed by Martin Duff, though you wouldn’t have known it as his race report focused mainly on the Aldershot runners (his own club). Since this race Alan Barnes has gone on become a fine runner, particularly in Cross Country, and is now a club mate of mine at Herne Hill.
A couple of months after this race I ran a hard race having not completely recovered from a cold and strained my heart. It took me quite a while to overcome that so, understandably, come the senior event, at Coulsdon, I could only finish in 21st place, nearly 4 min behind winner, Barry Royden.
The 1997 Junior race was won by Dave Benton of Ranelagh, with Belgrave winning both the 4 and 8 man teams, thus gaining more barring for Belgrave athletes. Come the Senior event, on 14 Feb 1998, I missed out on a fantastic race as Belgrave took victory in both the 6 and 12 man competition, with Kassa Tadessa, Gary Staines and Jim Estall occupying the first three positions. I was in Munich that weekend, my partner was studying over there and she needed me more than Belgrave.
The 1998 Junior race saw another 1-2 for Belgrave as Jason Lobo took the gold, with new boy and New Zealander, and soon to become a good mate of mine, Paul Coughlan, taking silver – possibly his finest performance in his brief stay in the UK. Belgrave took 2nd place in the 4 man event and 1st in the 8 man event. I’d missed a huge chunk of 1998 with an issue with my back, it was a 5 month lay off and I was only able to start running again in late November. But I still loved cross country so within 3 weeks I was racing again. Unfortunately I’d chosen the county champs to make my comeback, 12k over my least favourite course with the worst weather conditions I’ve ever experienced. Not surprisingly I only managed 66th position in a race I was used to making the top 20. But come the Senior event, at West Wickham, I was ready to help Belgrave take on the might of Blackheath on their home territory, for the 100th Championship. I was far from my best but I do love this course and managed to dig deep for a creditable 16th with Belgrave again winning the 6 and 12 man trophies. That was my 10 year ban extended, I’d be 44 before I could run again in the Junior event. In the evening I was a guest at a dinner to celebrate the 100th Championship, along with a host of other previous winners. It was a great evening and so nice to be bracketed with superstars of the past.
The 1999 Junior race again proved to be another big event for Belgrave as Geremew Wolde took gold and Kevin Nash Bronze, with Michael East of Portsmouth sandwiched in between them. Despite this, it was only 2nd in the 4 man team event and 3rd in the 8 man. In the Senior event, held at Tilgate, it was another great day out for Belgrave. No individual medallists this time, as Paul Haywood, of Boxhill, won, but solid team scoring meant Belgrave picked up the 6 man team trophy for the third year running, the first time this had been achieved since the championship began. They also picked up 3rd in the 12 man competition.
In 2000 the Junior event was held at Lloyd Park and was won convincingly by a track sparring partner of mine, Stuart Major of South London Harriers. In silver position was another old sparring partner and now team mate at Herne Hill, Mickey Boyle. Belgrave had obviously run out of non barred runners and finished out of the medals. At the Senior event it was another Belgrave individual victory as 2nd claimer, Richard Ashe, romped to a clear victory, but only entered as a guest the gold went to another old sparring partner of mine, Andy Weir of Thames Hare and Hounds, with his team mate, and back again in the medals, Ben Reynolds in Silver. After 3 years of victories Belgrave were understandably unable to get a non barred team entered. I should point out that I use the term sparring to refer to runners I had a number of close battles with, I wasn’t a boxer or even a particularly physical runner.
The 2001 Junior event, held at Coulsdon, provided another individual winner for Belgrave, Stephen Kennefick, though without significant backing only 4th place in the 4 man team event. Herne Hill, the team I was to move to a few years in the future were starting their own build up towards championship glory with 2nd place in this competition. At the Senior event it was Stuart Major who won the title to add to his Junior victory of the previous year. Belgrave covered the other medal places with Mike Trees in silver and Stephen Kennefick, having another fine run, for bronze. Out of the trophies again in the team event as Herne Hill picked up another 2nd place in the 6 man event.
At some point around now it was decided to abolish the barring clauses and so for the 2002 Junior event I was back in the team as we headed back to West Wickham to see what damage we could inflict. Jermaine Mays won ahead of our top man, Padraic Buckley. I was just over a minute back in 5th place but Belgrave, again finished just out of the medals, with 4th in the 4 man event. We did pick up a medal for the best team in Surrey as consolation though. I have no recollection of the Senior event.
In 2003 the event was again held at Coulsdon and was won by Jon Hamblen of Walton. For some reason Belgrave didn’t seem to be interested in the race, with the exception of a lone runner. Yes I still had a soft spot for the event and at 38 years of age it was an opportunity to find slightly easier competition than the Surrey League. I had a great battle with Ranelagh’s Paul Doyle before I eventually managed to give him the slip and earn my 2nd individual medal in this championship, bronze. I was pleased as punch to gain another medal, against much younger opposition. This was to be my last entry to the event as I was soon, not only to depart Belgrave but also London. So I’m leaving this story there. I don’t know the results of the Senior event in early 2004 but all the results from 2004-present can be found on the South of Thames Association website.
Also this weekend, in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, it was the British and Irish International Cross Country Champs. Even though I wasn’t selected this year I was intending to turn up to cheer on my friends, for I have many who were taking part, and run in the open event, but I had a lot of things to do at home so decided it wasn’t the best use of my time. It sounded like a very wet, windy and muddy event but I know that wouldn’t have bothered anybody who takes pride in representing their country. With thanks to Kerry Liam Wilson I’ve added a link to some footage of the men’s race, they may be old but they’re not slow (well actually some of those at the back are) I found some other footage of these events on You Tube but haven’t yet viewed, perhaps I feature in one from a previous year! I was particularly chuffed to see local rival, Stu Doyle, achieve selection and finish in 5th place in the M40 event, he features in the video, as do many of my friends.
I myself had decided to run a proper road race before the end of the year and on the suggestion of Rich, the client I trained around Queens Park, I entered the Cheshire 10k. Don’t get confused, this is just a name, not a Cheshire championship. The race was on Sunday in and around Queens Park, so perfect in that I’d covered much of the territory during my training with Rich. It’s so nice to know the territory, it gives you confidence in deciding your strike point. The race was a 4 lapper, fantastic, I’ve already mentioned how much I enjoy lap races so things were looking good. I did have a concern that it might prove difficult to pass lapped people in the confines of the narrow twisty paths inside the park, but that proved unfounded as most people were happy to move out of the way. There were some muddy patches and tight bends, which slowed the pace a little but all in all it was a very well organised race and I’d happily run it again. So how did it go I hear you say, well at the risk of sending you to sleep, read on.
Having done the bulk of my 2011 races on a Saturday it was quite a novelty to find myself racing on a Sunday. So I was stumped as to what to do with my Saturday, but not for long as Carole’s dreaded obsession with shopping engulfed me and we went in search of xmas presents. Well the shopping wasn’t too bad, I managed to get all my xmas presents sorted, with the exception of those for Carole, but the problem is that Carole views shopping as an opportunity to eat out. Now I love my food but I don’t like two big meals a day, however as we were planning on a light lunch I wasn’t too traumatised. Unfortunately the place we had intended to eat was full so instead we ended up at a pub and light lunch became burger, chips and beer.
The next morning I woke up still full up from that lunch. Naturally we had a debate about it, Carole blames the two portions of dinner I ate but they weren’t big portions, she served them in a breakfast bowl. Anyway, irrespective of who is right (me by the way) I had too much to eat on the Saturday. Carole and Ray were also doing the race but as we had to pick up numbers at the venue I made sure we had plenty of time to get there. It wasn’t a huge field and if I hadn’t had a big lunch on Saturday I would have been confident of a good position, but as I lined up for the start I was conscious that my belly was still feeling a little uncomfortable. To mirror last week’s start line conversation the chap next to me asked me to describe the course, so I obliged, omitting to say anything about not worrying unless he was in the lead. He looked like he could handle himself in a race so I was a little wary. Sure enough as the klaxon sounded, Mat Rushbrook(the chap) shot off behind the leading cycle. I set off a little more demurely but settled in behind him, with another chap settling in behind me. As we reached the first tight turn, at the clock tower, Mat and I were running together. My belly was still a little uncomfortable so I was reluctant to up the pace so that’s how it went, we dropped the chap in 3rd towards the end of the first lap but Mat and I were running shoulder to shoulder, pretty much, all the way around the first three laps. What was nice about this was that we both gave each other enough space to avoid obstacles and other runners, often in these circumstances people will try to chop across you but Mat was the perfect gentleman racer and I’ve had my day I’m not about to ruin somebody else’s race. We reached 5k in 17:04, the same time as I’d won in Heaton Park the previous week, but by now my stomach had settled down and I was feeling comfortable, and, more importantly, gaining confidence that I would be able to pull away. But I didn’t want to push too early, Mat was clearly a good runner and if I overdid it I was sure he’d make me pay. A sub 34 minute clocking was off the cards but I wasn’t interested in the time this week, I could sense victory and that was all I wanted. Towards the end of the 3rd lap I used my course knowledge to good effect and stretched out to create a slight gap. Mat was still running strong behind me so I kept the pace within my comfort zone until we reached the hill, about 1k from the finish. I’d been up this hill so many times with Rich that I’d embraced it and made it my friend, today it embraced me as I pushed up it and into the park for the last time. I kept the pace high, not looking back, luckily my old school chum, Adrian Thiemicke, was giving me notification of the gap I had. As I approached the final tight turn I looked back and it appeared Mat was coming back to me so it was push all the way down the long straight to the finish. And I won, my first outright road race victory (not counting parkruns) since May 2009, when I surprised myself by winning the Haddington 5. The time, I ran 34:17, so a fairly consistent second 5k, Mat was 8 seconds back and thanked me for helping him to a fast time. The friendliness continued into the prizegiving and I was surprised to win both 1st prize and 1st over 40, so I now have lots of Gatorade and a few more towels to add to the collection. Carole also ran a good race and Ray, well he got out of bed so what do you expect, another pb at 45:17.
Well that’s the end of a rather long blog, but before I go I’d just like to include a link that Lee Riley has sent me. Telling his own story on his successful attempt on the mile world record. There’s a video which, having worked so closely with Lee on the run up to the event, I found quite inspirational. It shows the enthusiasm, guts and determination that sum up Lee. It’s what I admire about him and makes it a pleasure to work with him. I hope you enjoy the video and if you want to see more, part of this will be on the big screen in 2012 and there are other videos on You Tube of his other races.
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