NESS XC Race 1-Results
30 October 2023 - By Annalise Tye
Welcome to the 1st of your NESS XC write ups!
Unfortunately power failures at Writtle university meant we couldn’t use the actual bathrooms, and had to resort to the ol’ runner favourite: portable toilets. But this didn’t dampen our spirits, and spirits were indeed high for the 1st cross country NESS fixture of the season. This was further boosted by Clarice’s black and yellow face paint, and the balloons for Andrew Read’s 60th birthday, happy birthday Andrew!
By the time 10:45 approached and the starting gun went off, we had 42 marvellous runners start stomping across the fields (the most of all the clubs there).
Jodee and I quickly looked for the optimum cheering and photo spot, and were shortly informed the 1st runner was already approaching, our very own Will Radley. On lap 1 he already had a decent lead on the Colchester Harrier chasing him in 2nd position. In fact, his documented race photos (see below), are merely a blur of the back of him…
There were some great performances by all, particular shout out to 1st position overall for Will Radley and 1st woman for WRC Claudia Baba-both 1st time performers at NESS XC! Also well done to our new members who joined only a few weeks ago, and already throwing themselves into the muddy fun that is XC – Matt Rees and Harry Solomon. Finally, props to members who couldn’t resist running today, despite recent injuries: Liz Stuckey, Tom Ashley, and Angela Wray.
As the last few runners were on the home straight, the heavens started opening and the rest of WRC took to shelter under the trees to devour cake. It is what we do best!
Now for the results…..
Ladies | 5th |
Men | 4th |
Overall league position | 5th |
This is a good start to the season, but we can definitely pip our long-standing rivals Gt Bentley (currently in 4th position) and move up position. We (well, all of us except for Clive who always has one eye on the purse strings!) look forward to having an even bigger turnout at the next event to improve our standings.
For those interested in the final details, the points were awarded thus:
POS | POOL A – MEN | TEAM SCORE |
1 | Colchester Harriers | 154 |
2 | Ipswich Jaffa | 249 |
3 | Great Bentley | 254 |
4 | Witham | 260* |
5 | Springfield | 276 |
6 | Harwich | 375 |
*edit: results to be updated based on men’s counting error from 270 to 260.
POS | POOL A – WOMEN | TEAM SCORE |
1 | Ipswich Jaffa | 35 |
2 | Springfield | 43 |
3 | Colchester Harriers | 56 |
4 | Great Bentley | 99 |
5 | Witham | 100 |
6 | Harwich | 161 |
POS | POOL A | M/F COMB | PTS |
1 | Ipswich Jaffa | 3 | 6 |
2 | Colchester Harriers | 4 | 5 |
3 | Springfield | 7 | 4 |
4 | Great Bentley | 7 | 3 |
5 | Witham | 9 | 2 |
6 | Harwich | 12 | 1 |
It’s still very much all to play for, with only 2 points between us and Gt Bentley (and Springfield Striders) and we know black and gold can take them!
The intra-club league
With only one missing runner, and despite 2 of the other teams points being reduced as a result of the bake off bonuses for 3 bakers, the Winnies took an early lead after race one. The Wall-Es are sitting in 2nd, and the bake off bonuses meant the race for 3rd and 4th is much closer than it would have been between the Woodies and the Wendies.
Finally, a big thank you to our bakers – Damien, Dawn, Jenny, Jodee, Karen, Nicola, and Sally.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday 26th November for our 2nd NESS race!
Annalise & Jodee
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