Words by Mark T, photos by Beth Davies
GGAC teams perform admirably at the Reigate Cross-Country Relays.
How often can it be said that three members from the same family will line-up for the same leg of a
relay? Well this is exactly what happened to Beth & Ian Davies and their son Kay when they readied
themselves for the start of the 66th edition of the Reigate XC Relays held in Priory Park, immediately
to the south of the Town Centre.
Morning rain and damp, chilly conditions did not deter the many teams taking part in these ‘friendly’
relays. It seems the weather did hinder a few teams arriving on time and the start was delayed by 15
minutes. GGAC had four teams and alongside Beth, Ian & Kay; Cath Marcus was in pole for the
ladies. All teams start together with each team member completing a 4k lap. The ladies run three
legs and the men four.
The Ladies ‘A’ team of Cath Marcus, Sam Ludlow-Taylor and Amy-Jo Clarke performed very well to
place 7th . Sam who ran the G’s ladies fastest lap of the day in 17:43 worked through the field as did
Amy-Jo (18:02) after Cath had completed the opening lap in a time of 20:30.
The ‘B’ team of Beth Davies (23:09), Michelle Collins (23:43) and a second leg by Sam L-T (18:44)
resulted in a top 20 finish in 19th .
The Men’s ‘A’-team of Kay Davies, Lee Lintern, Mark Tennyson and Ben Sunckell finished 5th team.
Kay (U20) opened with the G’s fastest lap of the day in 15:00; Lee followed with a decent lap of
16:31. Mark Tennyson ended the third lap in 6th place after a leg of 16:19. Ben in training for the
Athens Marathon then ran a splendid leg of 15:44 overtaking home club Reigate’s final runner to
move the G’s up to 5th .
A decent opening leg 16:45 from Ian Davies was followed by Brian O’Kane (21:32), Alistair Gibson
(21:01) & Peter Wootton (19:45) to position the ‘B’ team in 30th place.
It was a decent all-round performance from the club and great to see the return of a few faces who
had not raced for a while.
South of Thames 5m XC Team Race – Lloyd Park
Comfortable winners of both the Ladies & the Men’s Team titles at this event last season, the G’s headed to Lloyd Park, Croydon for this season’s edition of this historic cross-country race.
Light of their impact runners it was a case of seeing how the team would perform. For the Ladies only in-form Suzie Monk ran. After two matches Suzie has accrued a 4th and 3rd place finish in Division 1 of the Surrey Cross-Country League and carried this good form to this race to taking the Silver medal.
The Men were led home by Johnny Van Deventer finishing in a very impressive 6th place. Johnny ran a lonely race after the front of the field was stretched out early on chasing eventual winner Croydon Harriers Dominic Nolan. Nick Tearle was next in 28th taking first place in the M50 category, 4 seconds ahead of Epsom’s Steve Winder in this age group. Kay Davies (U20) was third home for the G’s in 39th place and gained a Gold medal in doing so. One more was required to close the 4-to-score team. Mark Tennyson (M55) did this with a 54th placed finish.
There is also an 8-to-score team result. Ian Davies was next in 75th followed by Phil Pryke (M50) 81st and Terry Booth (M55) in 92nd. G’s also had Peter Wootton (M55) finish the race, who’s position went unrecorded by the race officials, meaning that the eight to score team did not feature in the race results.
The G’s teams will be stronger at next month’s South of Thames 7.5m Championship race scheduled for Aldershot – the venue where they were so successful at the 5m race last season.
Teams: Men (4-to-score)
1 – Kent AC 33
2 – Belgrave Harriers 35
3 – Dulwich Runners 68
7 – Guildford & Godalming 123
BMAF 5k Championships – Battersea Park
David Williams anchored GGAC’s M55’s to their first British Masters title on Sunday.
Nearly 200 Masters athlete’s descended on a chilly Battersea Park for the BMAF 5k Championships on Sunday morning. The ‘sold out’ event had been rescheduled after both the postponement and then the cancellation of the race at its regular home in Horwich.
The race was hosted by Veterans AC using their two-lap course all within the Park. To avoid congestion at the start the event was split into two waves. The first wave for Men aged 35-64 and the second wave for all Women and Men aged 65 and over.
Individual and team awards are made in 5 and 10 year age bands respectively, both commencing at V35+. GGAC had a solitary presence in the M40 category and a team in the M55-64 age group.
Terry Booth (M55-3) led the G’s home – as he so often does in road races – finishing 37th taking the M55 individual bronze in a rapid time of 17:00, only 10 seconds off the silver medal. Next in was Mark Tennyson (M55-5) in a season’s best time of 17:31. David Williams (M55-12) on this occasion had the all important role of closing the 3-to-score team in a very decent time of 18:19.
Ben Gilmore (M40-15) after his Manchester and New York Marathon also ran very well at this much shorter distance to stop the clock at 18:21.
Teams – M55-64 Performance
1 – Guildford & Godalming 52:50
2 – Horsham 55:58
3 – Herne Hill Harriers 56:41