NESS Race 4 – Results

21 January 2024 - By Jodee Mayer

With marathon training season kicking off, and other popular races taking place, we still fielded a strong team of 28 runners today, and true to our club’s ethos we had runners that came in 2nd and 4th to last – Cross Country really is for everyone!

A massive thanks to our support crew – Angela R, DJ, Ian L, Jenny, and of course Mia – who is taking her cross country duties so seriously she came with her own clipboard today – top work! And thanks to our bakers Celine and Monty, Jenny for the additional cakes, and Mick for the sweets and isotonic drinks which I hear were gratefully received!

Described as a flat and varied course, based on last year’s experience I am not sure any of us expected the amount of mud that faced our runners today. I think it was only mud loving Vicki who crossed the line with a nice word to say about the course – with words such as “leg-sapping”, “hell”, and “brutal” being used by everyone else, both from WRC and other clubs – and several runners falling to their knees as they crossed the line – a true effort by all today, particularly over mile 3 which I hear was across a ploughed field, uphill, and into the wind…

The photos also show several different methods of crossing the FIVE ditches – though some lamented the fact that the random horse jump that we had to do twice last year was missing from the course this year…

Steven and Clarice sprint finished to an imaginary finish line, before turning the corner and seeing the actual finish – I was out of ear shot to hear any words which may have come out of their mouths at that point, but both put in a strong actual finish! Colesy, having been a fabulous supporter at the previous 3 races, donned his WRC race vest (and t-shirt, and hat…) and took to the course today – you will have to ask him if he regrets that decision or not!

League Results

My recollection is that Colchester’s 8 scoring men all finished in the top 10, so our men’s team did incredibly to finish in 2nd today, with our women coming in 4th with some of the highest placings we have seen this season.

We finished 3rd today (on points behind Colchester) and remain 3rd overall in the league – 3rd place really is ours to lose now!

For those interested in the details:

Men

Women

Combined Race 4

Overall

Intraclub Champs Results

We had a huge number of champs no-shows this week, and several people are now on their 2nd missed race which means that the no-shows at the next race could play a massive role in the outcome of the intraclub champs this season.

The league positions are unchanged after Race 4 with the Wall-Es holding on to the top spot – they can still be caught though, and it really is all to play for going into Race 5!

Points after Race 4

Race position

Cumulative race position after Race 4

Champs position after Race 4

Race 5

The final race of the season is on 18 February 2024 and is hosted by Hadleigh – let’s finish the season in style with a sea of black and gold and maintain that hard fought for 3rd position.

We already have a couple of bakers signed up, but if you want to add to the cake supplies for Race 5, you can sign up here.

A & J