On the 10th of March, the last cross-country race of the CC6 took place on the muddy fields of Itchen Valley Country Park. Being the inaugural season for the club, it was pleasing to have 9 members (7 men and two women) join in. Itchen Valley hosts a parkrun, one of the few to continue while others have been cancelled recently, it follows a similar path to the CC6 course race, which ensured the circuit on Sunday was particularly churned up. Definitely one for trail shoes, the open fields had plenty of boggy sections and the although the downhill slopes provided relief on your lungs you had to keep your wits about you to remain upright! The men’s team came first (again) with the top 4 proving more than adept at navigating the tricky conditions, they were ably led in by Stan Parkinson (2nd), Wayne Bevan (3rd), John Reed (11th) and Andy Parkinson (23rd), good show gents. We were a bit down on women, but we appreciated Janet Littlewood (18th) and Lorraine Hedworth (44th) ensuring the women’s team came 10th on the day.
As the club is new to the CC6 league, well in truth we are new to everything, as Winchester Running Club are less than 12 months old, our results are work in progress. But it was still not bad for a club starting part way through the season; the men came 13th (out of 19 clubs), and the women came 15th (out of 20). Janet Littlewood was our top woman, coming 24th for the season (best 4 races to score) and 7th in her age category, while Stephen Lowy came in 61st overall and 10th in his age category. It all begins again on the 29th of September for the new season.
Have a good summer!