We had a few racing elsewhere: Rambo and Rob M ran in the County Road 10K champs at Mallory Park, Haseeb recorded a season’s best (1.33.04) Half Marathon at the Turkey Trot and Anna put her Marathon miles to good effect in setting a PB (1.42.12) at the MK Half.
There weren’t any PBs at parkrun, but there were several strong runs, including Anna finishing as 1st lady.
Bagworth Heath
Roadhoggs were not able to put out full teams in race 2 of this season’s DR XC League at Bagworth Heath. This was for all sorts of reasons, eg illness or injury, or racing elsewhere, but we have dropped a couple of places in our division as a result. Great praise and thanks to the 7 guys and lonely Usha for turning out and giving it their best on what was a bright and pleasant morning, though course conditions were muddy as usual.
First, the Singh boys, Ashveer and Gurtej, tackled the junior races and picked up their medals for a full set of races in the previous Covid-curtailed season. It’s good to see the next generation of the Singh running dynasty out there and these young guys are getting better and better and dad Gurmit will soon be looking over his shoulder.
In the adult race, 5.5 miles around short and long loops including that long uphill start and 2 climbs to the top of the ridge, Gurmit led the way with a fine 25th place. Dave Lodwick was next in, followed by John Drake, who hurried off to watch the football. Next came Marcus, and then George won the battle of the Barratts with a good early lead, though Baz was chasing him down over the final lap and had him in view at the finish. Finally Vijay came home, getting to grips with muddy running and determined to finish for the team. For the ladies we had only Usha who matched Vijay’s determination and hung in there all the way round.
In the teams results the men bagged a 5th place, though one runner short of a full team – you can be awarded one last place – but the ladies and combined teams were not given places as the ladies were too short of runners … we really need more of you girls out there next time! We will need a few more of the men too, but so far the guys are setting the standard and the Hoggettes have some ground to make up.
RESULTS:
JUNIORS yrs7-12: 1th Ashveer Gurtha, 25th Gurtej Gurtha, 33 finished.
MEN: 25th Gurmit Singh (V40) 32.37, 94th Dave Lodwick (V60) 38.48, 126th John Drake 41.39, 172nd Marcus Shaikh (V45) 49.38, 186th George Barratt 52.47, 188th Baz Barratt (V60) 53.26, 204th Vijay Kotecha (V60) 76.56., 204 finished.
LADIES: 120th Usha Goyal (VL50) 76.56, 120 finished.
TEAMS (all division 2): Men 5th, Ladies unplaced, Combined unplaced.
TEAMS AFTER 2 RACES: Men 3rd, Ladies 10th, Combined 7th.
The next DR XC League races are:
Race 3 at Martinshaw Woods Sunday 16th January
New date for your diaries: Race 4 at Mallory Park on Sunday 30th January.
Race 5 at Bosworth Battlefield on Sunday 6th March.
Kim, Sam and Trudy, your cross-country Captains.
