The seventh and final CC6 race culminated at Itchen Valley Country Park, again. This time the course excelled itself with drizzle, mud and dazzling performances. It has been a long season as the dry and dusty fixtures of autumn have been succeeded by the increasingly challenging surfaces of the winter. You may have noticed that Itchen Valley country park hosts a parkrun that never seems to be canceled even though other courses struggle to open. Well last weeks course lived up to expectations. The mad dash to the first corner of this last race offered no consolation “dry” line, just a gloopy quagmire for all.
The WRC women’s contribution was reinforced by a contingent who had run 6 miles from Otterbourne beforehand! Team captain Ellie Swire led the way coming 2nd, followed by Liz Marshall 18th and Sarah Witt 20th with notable support from Mikaela Price 27th, Caroline Carr 30th, Lynne Whitaker 53rd and Sarah Sansome 78th, resulting in the women’s team coming 4th on the day.
The men were led in by Adrian Faulty with another 2nd, Julian Mann 11th, Joshua Leonard Jones 19th and Pete Sansome 22nd bringing the men in 2nd.
The WRC contingent also included, Ross Smith 27th, Paul Horler 32nd, Mike Goulding 34th, Pete Siddall 51st, Stephen Lowy 52nd, Euan Ramage, 90th, Mike Williamson 97th, Ric Munro 104th Martyn West 107th and Steve Goodwin 117th.
So what does that mean for the season? Our men’s team came second behind an imperious Winchester Fit Club who won all their fixtures, the Women came 21st after an uncertain start to the season, coming good after Christmas. It appears the women of WRC relish the mud! To score as an individual you take your best 4 finishes, and Ellie Swire led from the front with third overall, her performances getting better as the season progressed. Watch out RR10! Liz Marshall came 3rd in the V50 category with 100% attendance. Julian Mann was top WRC man with a 4th overall and top V45, Pete Sansome was top V50, Paul Horler top V60 and Martyn West top V70. Congrats on your stalwart performances.
I am sure everyone who joined in CC6 this year enjoyed the “friendly” league with a real mix of course conditions jostling with colleagues from other local clubs, making it both competitive and convivial. The season has now finished but if this sounds like your sort of race, the summer version, aka RR10 begins after Easter, similar format just on Wednesday evenings. Enjoy.
And I have attached an image from the last race with Mike watching a Southampton triathlete do the Itchen 2 step.