Roadhoggs Leicester AC
Coming into the last race of this season’s league, the Roadhoggs combined team were in last place in the top division and facing relegation. But our runners came along and gave it one last shot, and we very nearly saved our place for another season. In the end, we finished on equal points with Wreake and only lost out on a count of all the individual runners’ finishing positions – a bit like goal difference.
It was grey and cloudy as we assembled in the clearing. The strong breeze made it harder to get our Transportable Event Needs and Treatments centre in place, but we managed it and then helped the team next door who were struggling to secure their own T.E.N.T. in the breeze. I had assumed that the course was the same as last year, but they switched it around and the runners turned right after the uphill start, not left, and the course took in the same loops but in different order which I suppose at least offers some variety. Next time I will pay more attention to the course map. The Holly Hayes course is quite flat and almost all along woodland paths. It is narrow in parts, so with 400+ runners it did get a little crowded and you could only overtake on the wider sections. And there were queues at the rocky stream crossing, where runners had to choose between rock hopping or water wading.
One or two Roadhoggs were suffering from sickness or injury, and one or two more had run the 16 miles Belvoir Challenge or a Reaper challenge the day before, but still they came and ran at Holly Hayes. James B set off in 5th and held on to that place for the whole race, his best ever position. Dave Pearce also bagged a fine 11th place but sadly he doesn’t count towards our team score as he is second claim. Further down we packed quite well to finish the team with Robin, Dale, Jerry, Steve W, Tim, Steve Rob and Fabio getting the points. Tim scored team points for the first time. Fabio did too, and beat many other runners for the first time with his best ever run for us. The girls had a real race with our top 3 pushing each other all of the way round. Vicky kept ahead of Becca and Captain Jackie. Jackie managed to get by Becca in the latter part of the race, but all 3 finished close together as they brought out the best in each other. Clare was suffering a stomach bug and a little unsure whether to run, but in the end she did and had one of her best runs of the season! Thanks also to John H, Peter S, Ben, Chris, Ruth, Trudy and Barbara, and Tim’s dad David who guested for us.
In fact, my thanks to all of our runners in all the cross country league races this season. We are the smallest club in the division and we did the best we could against the big boys. I will miss the great running, the jolly banter, and Trudy’s fabulous cakes. The next season starts again in October and Roadhoggs will be right in there competing for the second division title and promotion.
RESULTS (5.3m):
MEN: 5th James Bostock 32.23, 11th Dave Pearce (V40) 33.320, 98th Rob
Meynell 39.34, 106th Dale Jenkins (V50) 39.54, 110th Jerry Wilkes (V50)
40.07, 112th Steve Wheeler (V40) 40.18, 131st Tim Olsen 41.36, 153rd Steve
Robinson (V40) 43.14, 159th Fabio Caraffini 43.41, 160th John Hallisey
43.42, 168th Peter Sloneczny (V50) 44.12, 169th Ben Milsom 44.18, 207th
David Olsen (V50) 47.42, 224th Chris Peach (V50) 49.49, 264 finished.
LADIES: 32nd Vicky Sutton 45.21, 33rd Jackie Brown (V50) 45.44, 35th Becca
Bostock 45.49, 76th clare Mendes 52.33, 111th Ruth Stevely (V40) 57.12,
114th Trudy Sharpe (V40) 57.23, 125th Barbara Hermann 62.12, 139 finished.
TEAMS: Men (dvn 2) 5th, Ladies (dvn 2) 6th, Combined (dvn 1) 8th.
TEAM FINAL POSITIONS AFTER 6 RACES: Men (dvn 2) 6th, Ladies (dvn 2) 7th,
Combined (dvn 1) 10th.
It was grey and cold as people started to arrive at Bosworth Park for the penultimate race of this season’s cross-country league. The car park entrance bollard rising and falling between every car caused a lot of early queues until Hinckley, the host club, found a way to keep the damn thing down. As this was Valentines weekend I expected a few Roadhoggs couples to celebrate by coming to the race together, and I’m sure that the Pearce-Browns, Robinson-Hermanns and Bostock-Bostocks found the romantic side of running through mud and water. John and Trudy were there as well but John didn’t run and spectated with me instead. Before the race, I watched some of our runners going through their pre-race rituals: Dale got his foot and shoe-horn stuck in his running shoe, Ruth and Clare did some strange squatting, and Jerry picked up an orange and announced he was going for a pee somewhere … leaving us wondering why he took fruit with him.
The Bosworth course is a mixed bag of parkland, woodland, tracks and fields, not particularly hilly but quite long at 10k. There were three water crossings early on and the hardest part was getting round a field about halfway which was undulating and all clinging mud. We had 25 Roadhoggs and once again our teams were led home by James and Becca Bostock. James bagged a top 10 finish, his best so far. Next in was Dave Pearce but regretfully he does not count for us as he is a second claim member. James D, Dale, Jerry, Steve W, Dave Lod, big Sam and Steve R completed the team. For the girls, Becca, Victoria and Jackie all finished close to each other, with Ruth making the last team place. Because this was a smaller field than last time at Bradgate, everyone finished higher up the order, with Dale, Sam and Ben much higher so must have had better runs anyway. Mark Coulson and Mark Jowsey made their cross-country debuts for us … you wait ages for a Mark to turn up and then 2 come along at once.
The men maintained their team position in division 2 whilst the girls improved theirs. The combined team are still stuck at the bottom of division 1, but with one more race to go there is still a chance we can avoid relegation if we score really well at Holly Hayes in a fortnight and Wreake or Ivanhoe do not.
Trudy’s home baking and coffee after the race went down very well as always. There is talk of skipping the racing altogether and just becoming a cake eating club.
RESULTS (6.2m):
MEN: 7th James Bostock 36.15, 16th Dave Pearce (V40) 37.18, 59th James
Dunham 41.21, 90th Dale Jenkins (V50) 43.51, 102nd Jerry Wilkes (V50) 44.39,
107th Steve Wheeler (V40) 45.06, 120th Dave Lodwick (V50) 45.57, 129th Sam
Jolly 46.32, 135th Steve Robinson (V40) 46.54, 136th Terry Woodhouse (V40)
46.55, 153rd Colin Bowpitt (V40) 47.58, 171st Ben Milsom 49.10, 172nd Fabio
Caraffini 49.12, 188th Mark Coulson (V40) 51.47, 219th Baz Barrett (V50)
54.25, 224th Martin Capell (V50) 55.26, 240th Chris Peach (V50) 58.02, 255th
Mark Jowsey (V50) 61.52, 269 finished.
LADIES: 37th Rebecca Bostock 50.06, 39th Victoria Sutton 50.31, 41st Jackie
Brown (V50) 50.35, 77th Ruth Stevely (V40) 56.15, 89th Clare Mendes 58.12,
109th Trudy Sharpe (V40) 62.33, 128th Barbara Hermann 67.57, 144 finished.
TEAMS: Men (dvn 2) 4th, Ladies (dvn 2) 7th, Combined (dvn 1) 7th.
TEAMS AFTER 5 RACES: Men (dvn 2) 6th, Ladies (dvn 2) 8th, Combined (dvn 1)
10th.
It was a frosty start to this league race which was hosted by Roadhoggs at Bradgate Park, but the sun came out and by the end of the morning it was nice and bright but still cold. Bradgate is a fantastic location for running and the Mecca of local runners, but this was the first time that it had been used for a league cross-country race. We thought it would be popular, but it exceeded our wildest expectations as more than 600 runners came to race, a new league record! There were plenty in the junior race as well. As for Roadhoggs, even with many helping rather than running, we still had 34 running including 8 debutants, which was almost a club record as well. All of this caused a nightmare in the Newtown Linford car park and our parking marshals filled every space and in the end had to close the gate and leave the queue outside to find space in the village, and then they dashed to join the race! We will learn from this for next time.
The senior race start was delayed because of the parking problems, and we set the men off before the ladies as the first part of the course narrows pretty quickly. The route is very hilly but also very scenic with some terrific views from the high points which I’m sure were appreciated by the runners once they got there. We had designed a 2-lap course of 5.4 miles, with an uphill start to lap 1, then plenty more hills plus a mountain to climb up to the Monument, and finally a nice downhill run-in on lap 2. The are some tight turns and with the slippy conditions several runners fell; one broke a finger but was treated by the medics. James Bostock led our men’s team in again, chased home by Mark Ramsden making his league debut, and the team was completed by Nathan Adams (also debut) and regulars James Dunham, Jerry Wilkes (a much better run Jerry), Dale Jenkins, Robin Meynell and Steve Wheeler. For the ladies Vicky Sutton managed to get ahead of Becca Bostock for the first time this season, with Afra Kelsall and Ruth Stevely completing the team. Our other debutants were Tim Olsen, John Ladd, Brian Feldman, Natasha Eastwood and Jessica Gigg (guesting), plus a welcome return from Peter Sloneczny.
Drew Simpson was in the last mile and running towards the point where some runners were still making the turn to start lap 2, just seconds after Ashley Simpson had made the turn. To be fair, the men did have a 10-minute start and Ashley is being careful as she is carrying a potential future Roadhogg. I’m sure that Drew would have been gallant and stayed back if he was any closer. Nearly all of the Roadhoggs finished within sight of each other, and some finished together, which shows what a great team spirit we have as our runners encourage each other out on the course.
Finally, thanks to all of you who helped with marshalling, car parking and finish line duties. Particularly Dave Lod, Ian Bass and John Stew for being out there early to set out the course. James and Mark hared the first lap of the junior race as their warm up but, as the children ran by to start their second lap, I saw them both dropping to the ground from their efforts … that’s 2 more who now know just how quick a fast 11-year-old is over a mile. And several of these juniors also ran the main race including an 11-year-old girl! Bec Bromwich handed out finishing discs whilst balancing on her crutches. Trudy, Valerie and Natasha stayed and tried (not very successfully) to help me take down the tent. Vicky: A strong run over the Bradgate hills
Sorry for not mentioning everyone who ran or helped and thanks to all of you who represented the club so well. We have had a lot of good feedback about the event from the other clubs and I hope we will be back at Bradgate Park.
RESULTS (5.4m):
MEN: 13th James Bostock 33.55, 17th Mark Ramsden 34.51, 76th Nathan Adams
37.37, 86th James Dunham 38.02, 164th Jerry Wilkes (V50) 41.32, 173rd Dale
Jenkins (V50) 41.54, 184th Robin Meynell 42.16, 195th Steve Wheeler (V40)
42.35, 204th Tim Olson 42.49, 225th Drew Simpson 43.39, 234th Sam Jolly
44.04, 242nd Steve Robinson (V40) 44.28, 245th Colin Bowpitt (V40) 44.34,
247th John Ladd (V50) 44.40, 258thFabio Caraffini 45.18, 259th Peter
Sloneczny (V50) 45.19, 265th Terry Woodhouse (V40) 45.38, 266th John
Hallissey 45.39, 279th Dab Bannatyne 46.14, 292nd Ben Milsom 47.03, 325th
Chris Peach 49.16, 354th Hitesh Pandya (V50) 51.34, 387th Brian Feldman
(V60) 55.51, 405 finished.
LADIES: 69th Vicky Sutton 48.07, 79th Rebecca Bostock 49.22, 103rd Afra
Kelsall (V40) 50.53, 135th Ruth Stevely (V40) 53.47, 166th Clare Mendes
57.02, 177th Jessica Gigg (V50) 58.38, 178th Barbara Hermann 58.43, 180th
Ashley Simpson 59.31, 195th Trudy Sharpe (V40) 61.39, 196th Valerie Spezi
61.40, 198th Natasha Eastwood 62.05, 221 finished.
TEAMS: Men (dvn 2) 4th, Ladies (dvn 2) 8th, Combined (dvn 1) 9th.
TEAMS AFTER 4 RACES: Men (dvn 2) 6th, Ladies (dvn 2) 9th, Combined (dvn 1)
10th.
It was icy cold and foggy out in Burton-On-Trent but 26 hardy Roadhoggs came to run on what is usually the toughest course in the cross-country league. Harry Mullen, Dave Pearce and Fabio Caraffini made their debuts for the Roadhoggs xc team, and Martin Capell, Clare Mendes and Valerie Spezi returned to the league after an absence. We also had 4 brand new pairs of cross country shoes making their first appearance as Clare, Robin, Harry and Fabio wore their dazzling footwear which could be seen from the space station. Baz and Martin ignored the freezing conditions and stripped down to their vests and stood there like a pair of hairy yaks. The Sinai course is 5+ miles, starts up a hill, has a short steep hill in the first half and two longer and steeper hills which come close together in the second half. There are plenty of other ups and downs as well, though the last mile is pretty flat and then a mad downhill dash to the finish. There are also some awkward cambers and turns, and as the frost melted it was hard to keep your balance in the mud.
Young Harry Mullen led the team home in his first race for us, chased in by Ludo and Dave Pearce. Ludo and Dave did really well considering they ran the County Championships for Leicester Coritanians the day before, but sadly we cannot count them as they are second claim members of Roadhoggs. James Dunham, Dale, Jerry, Robin, Steve Robinson, Dave Lodwick and Steve Wheeler completed the scorers. Rebecca led the girls home again, putting her ahead of hubby James as ‘first Roadhogg’ as he was skiing out in Austria. Jackie, Vicky and Amy completed the scoring team. Although Barbara and Steve recently announced their engagement, I do not believe that they held hands around the course though maybe Steve could have been there to haul Barbara up the hills. We are currently 10th in the combined division one, the dreaded relegation position, but with this terrific support from everyone who ran and such a great team spirit I hope we can climb out of this and keep our place in the top division. Thanks to everybody who came out and ran today.
NB Barbara and Steve’s news started me thinking; if you got points for running couples then Roadhoggs would surely win the league as in our cross-country squad we currently have Amy & Dan, Ashley & Drew, Barbara & Steve, Clare & Rob, Jackie & Dave, Rebecca & James, Trudy & John and Valerie & Ludo!
RESULTS:
MEN: 42nd Harry Mullen 34.29, 56th Ludovic Renou 35.05, 66th Dave Pearce
(V40) 35.51, 82nd James Dunham 36.32, 147th Dale Jenkins (V50) 40.10, 169th
Jerry Wilkes (V50) 41.31, 176th Robin Meynell 42.07, 186th Steve Robinson
(V40) 42.52, 187th Dave Lodwick (V50) 42.53, 206th Steve Wheeler (V40)
44.15, 214th Drew Simpson 44.49, 219th Colin Bowpitt (v40) 45.08, 223rd
Fabio Caraffini 45.32, 224th Dan Bannatyne 45.34, 225th Ben Milsom 45.35,
267th Baz Barrett (V50) 50.44, 270th Martin Capell (V50) 51.27, 307
finished.
LADIES: 27th Rebecca Bostock 44.47, 44th Jackie Brown (V50) 47.52, 53rd
Vicky Sutton 49.25, 90th Amy Gasper 54.23, 116th Clare Mendes 57.52, 119th
Ashley Simpson 58.22, 123rd Barbara Hermann 59.13, 125th Trudy Sharpe (V40)
59.25, 139th Valerie Spezi 61.52, 153 finished.
TEAMS: Men (dvn 2) 8th, Ladies (dvn 2) 6th, Combined (dvn 1) 10th.
TEAMS AFTER 3 RACES: Men (dvn 2) 7th, Ladies (dvn 2) 8th, Combined (dvn 1)
10th.
Last year on the Bagworth Heath course a marshal was briefly missing and a single runner took a wrong turn and came in from the wrong direction to win the race by about 10 minutes! (he didn’t count in the end). This year a marshal was missing bigtime and everyone took a wrong turn and came in from the wrong direction! However the results will stand as everyone followed the same route, although a little shorter than advertised at 5.7 instead of 6.2 miles.
It was a cloudy and breezy day. We welcomed cross country debut runner Ben Milsom, who had not run xc since school, and who turned up with brand new bright blue shoes that were less bright blue at the end of the race. After we were one short of a full team in the last race, but the good people of Roadhoggs answered the call and 13 guys and 6 girls gathered around our mobile hospitality centre with some jolly chat about running and cakes.
The runners set off up the long slow hill at the start. The ground was muddy in some parts but quite OK in others. The climb up to the ridge was from the other direction to usual and there were other course changes from last time with different loops which at least adds some variety, but in one narrow section some runners on a previous loop held up a good number of other top-half runners who had lapped them and had to pick their way by. For Roadhoggs, once again the Bostocks ruled as James and Becca lead home our men's and ladies teams. Not to be out-done, the Simpsons were contesting the middle of the race and Stewsharpes positioned themselves at the rear to make sure that all the Roadhoggs were safely home. James Dunham and Vicky Sutton were second in for each team, a good performance from both, and the ever reliables Amy and Ruth, and Dale, Steve Wheeler, Dave Lod, Drew and Jerry filled up the teams before Ben completed the men's scoring team on his first xc run for us. Hitesh, Chris, Dan, Baz and Ashley followed home, though Dan suffered from a cold and struggled round and Ashley ran with extra care because she is carrying a future Roadhogg for us.
Afterwards we had a full selection of Trudy’s wonderful cakes, too many for the 19 of us but we did our very best with them. I will work on getting even more runners out next time. And just so you know, for once I did a quick run myself as the banner blew away and I had to sprint after it. It was only around 50 yards but all at high speed.
RESULTS:
MEN: 16th James Bostock 36.31, 71st James Dunham 40.38, 145th Dale Jenkins
(V50) 44.58, 156th Steve Wheeler (V40) 45.34, 185th Dave Lodwick (V50)
47.31, 190th Drew Simpson 47.40, 221st Jerry Wilkes (V50) 49.56, 252nd Ben
Milsom 51.40, 255th Hitesh Pandya (V50) 52.01, 259th Chris Peach (V50),
52.17, 270th Dan Bannatyne 53.30, 281st Baz Barrett (V50) 55.07, 317th John
Stew (V50) 64.31, 324 finished.
LADIES: 43rd Rebecca Bostock 50.01, 58th Vicky Sutton 52.42, 107th Amy
Gasper 58.08, 145th Ruth Stevely (V40) 62.00, 153rd Ashley Simpson 63.33,
158th Trudy Sharpe (V40) 65.44, 178 finished.
TEAMS: Men (dvn 2) 8th, Ladies (dvn 2) 9th, Combined (dvn 1) 9th.
TEAMS AFTER 2 RACES: Men (dvn 2) 9th, Ladies (dvn 2) 8th, Combined (dvn 1)
9th.
NEXT RACE: Sinai Ridge, Sunday 4th January.
At the first race of this season’s league, James Bostock led home the mens team and Becca Bostock was our leading lady. It was a grey day at South Charnwood High School as the runners gathered for the start, but the rain held off until after the race. There are some stiles and gaps on this course where queues can form, so the ladies were started 10 minutes after the men which gave them their own race and an incentive to catch up with the men ahead. The route down to Thornton lake and back is quite pleasant, and conditions underfoot were not too bad, but the second half of the race is tougher than the first and so it was a case of hanging on in there until you came back onto the playing field and run to the finish. The leading ladies were a bit miffed to be held back for a few seconds at a stile where the men’s race was coming back ‘to let the leading male runner through’ and made it clear to the marshal that it was their race too! The only answer here is to not have runners from different directions trying to get through the same point, but sometimes that cannot be avoided.
Unfortunately for us, this race clashed with the Beacon half marathon and with other Roadhoggs committed elsewhere we just managed a full ladies team but were one runner short in the men’s team. We are given a last league place just once each season so already we have used that up and I will try hard to get full teams out at the remaining races. And apart from young James, the men’s team was suffering from old age as they were all veterans! Soon we will have to put out course directions in large print. We welcomed new runner Terry Woodhouse who enjoyed the race and has a history of fell running so was quite happy amongst the mud and hills. And Jerry came back from Yorkshire for what was, for him, a quick sprint. Steve Wheeler ran his dirty socks off to be 2nd man in, and our mature team was completed by Dave Lod, Hitesh and Baz. For the girls, Vicky raced Rebecca for most of the race but lost ground towards the end, and Barbara and Trudy worked together to complete the team. Liam Wheeler, age just 7, ran the junior race again … a budding Roadhogg for the future.
They ran out of men’s discs again, so from 276 onwards they started with a new set which tested my maths a bit (275 + disc number). I found out later that the second set of discs also ran out at 355 and runners after that were told their places and had to try and remember them! Anyway all this delayed my greeting the real stars of the Roadhoggs cross country team – Trudy’s cakes – but I caught up afterwards and was even allowed to take some home by pretending they were for Lynne.
RESULTS:
MEN: 15th James Bostock 34.07, 164th Steve Wheeler (V40) 42.55, 229th Dave
Lodwick (V50) 46.20, 241st Terry Woodhouse (V40) 46.59, 283rd Jerry Wilkes
(V50) 49.46, 296th Hitesh Pandya (V50) 50.24, 331st Baz Barrett (V50) 53.08.
LADIES: 41st Rebecca Bostock 46.28, 51st Vicky Sutton 47.42, 177th Barbara
Hermann 59.18, 180th Trudy Sharpe (V40) 59.44.
TEAMS: Combined; 10th (Div 1), Men; 10th (Div 2), Ladies; 10th (Div 2)
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