Roadhoggs Leicester AC
It was a very pleasant morning at Market Bosworth as we all gathered in the field behind the smart country hotel. For the last race of this league I was hoping that we would once again have full teams in both the men's and the ladies' races to help us stay in second place overall in our division (2) and make the National Plate Final. Well we did better than that, we won the division. The guys turned up in numbers again but we were struggling with the girls as sore hips and sore heads depleted the team down to just Jackie and Trudy. Then someone said they had seen Claire and Anita sitting in a car to keep warm, and minutes before the start they arrived to save the day. Jackie thought about wearing her new spikes but they were so long that she could run up trees and buildings with them like Spiderwoman, so she decided to wear her usual off road soles instead.
The course was 5.5 miles of soft fields and grassland with some water crossings and extra muddy areas to get through. I passed one poor girl who had lost her shoe in deep mud and was shouting for a marshal to come and get it out! Nick again led the men's team home in a fine 10th, but Ludovic is getting closer. Then Jerry, and Ceri making his annual cross-country appearance. We packed well in the men's race with all 8 scorers inside the first 100. For the girls, Claire scored some good points for us then Jackie and then ever-so-reliable Trudy. We waited for Anita ... it was like the scene in Apollo 13 where there is that long and tense wait before the lunar module breaks through the clouds and everyone cheers because they have made it safely home. We all cheered to see Anita coming out of the woods and completing our ladies team. As the division 2 leaders Hermitage did not finish a full men's team, we bagged enough points to win the division, and our combined team should be promoted to division 1 next season. Thanks and well done everyone.
RESULTS:
MEN: 10th Nick Cobley 35.57, 25th Ludovic Renou 38.07, 45th Jerry Wilkes
(V40) 40.52, 50th Ceri Davies (V40) 41.22, 53rd Colin Bowpitt (V40) 41.56,
63rd Miguel Flores 43.01, 66th Craig Atton 43.38, 85th Dave Lodwick (V40)
45.24, 104th John Stew (V50) 47.29, 108th Rob Taylor (V50) 47.56, 130th
Hitesh Pandya (V40) 50.52, 143rd Kim Richardson (V50) 53.49, 156 finished.
LADIES 22nd Claire O'Neill 47.34, 40th Jackie Brown (V40) 52.04, 65th Trudy
Sharpe (V40) 59.45, 83rd Anita Pabla 72.42, 83 finished.
TEAMS (div 2): Men 1st, Ladies 4th, Combined 1st.
TEAMS AFTER RACE 6 (final league positions): Men 3rd, Ladies 4th, Combined
1st.
It was a cold morning at Bagworth and the Roadhoggs mobile event centre (tent) is proving very popular with the runners as a place to shelter from the cold wind. Also, thanks to the girls, we needed it to store all the flapjacks and cakes which will be waiting for us after the race. I do wonder whether some of the team are there for the race or for the flapjacks (no contest, flapjacks win) but who cares it's working this season with full teams again and 15 Roadhoggs' runners in all. At the 4th attempt, Desford Striders finally got a race started at Bagworth Heath. This is a true course, 2.5 laps of very VERY muddy pathways that were deep in parts. It was hard to keep your balance on some of the tight corners and little slopes. On the first lap you tried to find your way around the mud but on the second lap it was somehow easier just to run straight through it. There is also a long climb to the top of the ridge which you have to run twice; it levels out a bit in the middle but that's just to give you a breather before you have to tackle the second half of the hill. We welcomed Colin Bowpitt making his Roadhoggs xc debut and already he finished well up and scored good points for us. Nick and Ludo both told me that they did not enjoy this course, but I think that really they did because they were our top scorers with Nick right up front and Ludo getting the better of Jerry on the day. Dave Lod and Baz had good runs, everyone ran well and we finished 6 in the top 100. The ladies team was sick and lame and I am grateful that they turned up and ran 'for the team'. Jackie was fine and led them in. but then came Trudy (coughing), Hannah (suffering a cold and overdressed) and Sumina (dodgy hip) ... what fine girls you are. Valerie still has a problem with her knee ligaments but was there to take the results for us, and also the famous Ronnie Atton came along to inspire the runners to try harder.
RESULTS:
MEN: 13th Nick Cobley 34.32, 35th Ludovic Renou 36.35, 62nd Jerry Wilkes
(V40) 39.09, 68th Colin Bowpitt (V40) 39.47, 94th Dave Lodwick (V40) 42.09,
100th Craig Atton 42.37, 116th Baz Barrett (V50) 44.18, 137th Rob Taylor
(V50) 46.12, 143rd John Stew (V50) 46.47, 171st Kim Richardson (V50) 52.21,
181st Rex Stapleford (V70) 58.14, 185 finished.
LADIES 36th Jackie Brown (V40) 49.11, 60th Trudy Sharpe (V40) 55.40, 63rd
Hannah Bishop 56.59, 67th Sumina Azam 57.17, 82 finished.
TEAMS (div 2): Men 3rd Ladies 4th Combined 2nd
TEAMS AFTER RACE 5: Men 3rd Ladies 4th Combined 2nd
The next and final league race is on Sunday 6th March at Market Bosworth Country Park. The A final, which we will qualify for if we finish 2nd in our division, is on Sunday 27th March at Sinai Ridge in Burton Upon Trent. More details will be sent out nearer the dates. Keep these dates free, we need everyone out running to complete our best season so far!
Another great Roadhoggs team performance. We had 16 runners and completed full teams in both races again. It was a windy morning, and league organiser Dave Mann warned us about 'stuff flying off trees' around the course, but it takes more than a flying tree to stop a Roadhogg. The race was a single lap of 5 miles, with the long climb in the middle that never seems to end. There were many more long and short hills and in fact there was very little level ground and even the downhills were mostly muddy paths where you had to watch your step. There was one nice downhill on grass. Finally there is the famous 'travelator' up to the finish line ... you could impress the crowd by sprinting up it or you could just give in to it and stagger to the line. I chose the stagger. Nick burst into the top 10 with his best ever league position of 7th. Ludo and Jerry continued their battle with Ludo coming in ahead this time. For the girls we welcomed back Rebecca who was first in with Jackie not far behind. Thanks to everyone who ran, we scored really well in the team race and Roadhoggs are now 2nd overall in division 2 - best ever!
RESULTS:
MEN: 7th Nick Cobley 32.28, 71st Ludovic Renou 37.12, 81st Jerry Wilkes
(V40) 38.03, 105th Dale Jenkins (V50) 39.36, 120th Dave Lodwick (V40) 40.24,
139th Jon Heap (V40) 41.38, 151st John Stew (V40) 42.14, 185th Rob Taylor
(V50) 43.57, 187th Baz Barrett (V50) 44.05, 216th Hitesh Pandya (V40) 46.37,
231st Kim Richardson (V50) 50.09, 247 finished.
LADIES: 29th Rebecca Bromwich 43.24, 48th Jackie Brown (V40) 46.48, 71st
Sumina Azam 50.20, 80th Hannah Bishop 53.27, 89th Valerie Spezi 56.17, 112
finished.
TEAMS (div 2): Men 4th, Ladies 5th, Combined 2nd
TEAMS after 2 races: Men 3rd, Ladies 4th, Combined 2nd
Another good Roadhoggs team performance best sums up the day. Getting into the Foremark race was the first obstacle; there is an automated barrier (one of those bollards that goes up and down) at the entrance, which Severn Trent Water did not switch off despite being asked. So a long queue formed on the road as everyone had to wait their turn to put the money in and make the bollard sink into the ground ... we waited half an hour. Also they closed off one of the car parks. This meant that the start was delayed a while. But the weather was quite bright and a little cold, so the new Roadhoggs mobile changing and storage facility (tent) made it's debut and we joined the other clubs in the tented village.
The races are getting bigger. Over 400 lined up at the start, including 15 Roadhoggs. Ruth Stevely, Valerie Spezi and Ian Bass made their first cross-country appearances for us, and it was nice to see Rex back after 2 years out. I am not able to run at the moment so I watched the race set off then back again as they completed the first small loop by the reservoir. This course is 2 laps and returns to the start four times so there are good opportunities to see how your runners are doing. There are 2 really steep hills in the middle of this course with muddy pathways in between and tight turns everywhere. Nick was 11th at halfway but in touch with runners ahead of him and finally passed the 9th runner in the last mile. Jerry was nursing an injury but still went for it. Dale is getting better as he gets older, by the time he is 90 he will be winning races. Miguel is improving race by race. Then the middle order of Stefan, Paul and Hitesh and then Ian and Rex. Stick with it Ian, you will improve. New girl Ruth led the ladies in then Jackie and Sumina closely followed by Trudy who was having her best race in a long time, then Hannah and Valerie. Thanks for the muffins Trudy. We need more faster young men out there.
RESULTS:
MEN: 9th Nick Cobley 33.48, 92nd Jerry Wilkes (V40) 39.34, 106th Dale
Jenkins (V50) 40.32, 102nd Miguel Flores 41.02, 176th Stef Turner 44.54,
197th Paul Langham (V40) 46.10, 208th Hitesh Pandya (V40) 46.45, 250th Ian
Bass (V40) 56.03, 261st Rex Stapleford (V70) 64.23, 266 finished. LADIES:
47th Ruth Stevely 46.21, 67th Jackie Brown (V40) 48.51, 94th Sumina Azam
52.34, 96th Trudy Sharpe (V40) 52.46, 112th Hannah Bishop 54.31, 129th
Valerie Spezi 58.31, 147 finished.
TEAMS (div 2): Men 10th, Ladies 5th, Combined 9th TEAMS after 2 races: Men
5th, Ladies 5th, Combined 5th
Well what a start to this seasons cross-country league - best Roadhoggs team ever! We had 18 runners, 13 men and 5 ladies, including debuts from Jackie, Ludovic, Miguel and Rob. This was a new event in the league from South Charnwood High School, home of one of the road league races. But this time we set off around the school field then out along some very scenic footpaths down to Thornton Reservoir and back, it was a very pleasant 5.2 miles. The course was wet and muddy underfoot from all the overnight rain, and it was cold and wet before and after the race but at least the rain held off while we were out running. Nick is right up there with the leaders now, he came in 8th with another of his storming runs, backed up by Jerry, Dale (great run again for an older person Dale) and Craig, then Ludo and Miguel in their first cross-country races, then Dave and John completing the scorers, and then Stef, Paul, Rob, Hitesh and finally me. Emma and new girl Jackie led in the ladies, followed in by Sumina, Hannah and Trudi. I don't know if you all had cross-country shoes, but Hannah didn't and was sliding all over the place so I ran with her like a good captain. We had indoor changing, so no chance to test out the new club tent yet. Thanks everyone ... if we keep this up we'll be in Europe soon. Merci Valerie for taking the results, you can run next time.
RESULTS (sorry times not available):
MEN: 8th Nick Cobley, 60th Jerry Wilkes (V40), 77th Dale Jenkins (V50), 80th
Ludovic Renou, 84th Craig Atton, 102nd Miguel Flores, 111th Dave Lodwick
(V40), 117th John Stew (V50), 127th Stef Turner, 134th Paul Langham (V40),
153rd Rob Taylor (V50), 170th Hitesh Pandya (V40), 208th Kim Richardson
(V50), 215 finished.
LADIES: 32nd Emma Klimowicz, 35th Jackie Brown (V40), 72nd Sumina Azam, 81st
Hannah Bishop, 83rd Trudy Sharpe (V40), 100 finished.
TEAMS (div 2): Men 3rd, Ladies 5th, Combined 2nd
Reports from other seasons:
2017-18, 2016-17, 2015-16, 2014-15,
2013-14,
2012-13,
2011-12, 2010-11,
2009-10, 2008-9,
2007-8, 2006-7