Surrey County XC Championships – LLoyd Park – 7th January
In the ladies event GGAC had a big turnout across the age groups in the mud (and wind and rain) at Lloyd Park. Our best senior performance came from Suzie Monk, who finished in a magnificent second place in the ladies race, just 5 seconds behind the winner in a thrilling battle that lasted from gun to tape. Suzie along with Nancy Scott and Dominique Corradi broke away from the main group after about half a lap setting up what would be the eventual podium. Late into the last lap, Suzie and Nancy tailed off Domi to duke it out for the win. Despite an absolutely valiant effort Suzie was just edged out in the closing phases. Our silver medalist was joined by Eleanor Harrison (19th), Nici Cahusac (40th) and Naomi Maini (46th) to give us 6th place in the team competition. The scoring four were ably supported Christine Robinson, Alice Batchelor, Emily Ealham, Laura Hales, Rebecca Brennan, Lucy Green, Cath Marcus, Jo Wilkerson and Beth Davies.
Twelve of Guildford’s men tackled the final race of the day after the course had been nicely churned up by the preceding seven races. We were led home by Matt McDaniel in 23rd place, followed by Nathan Janmohamed (33rd), Nick Tearle (43rd), Mark Tennyson (63rd), Rob Marcus (76th) and Lee Lintern (84th), to give us 7th in the 6-to-score competition. Also running were Dave Williams, Ian Davies, Chris Woods, David Renshaw, Alistair Wilkie and Terry Booth.
Well done also to JJ Garner who finished 13th in the U20 men’s race
Surrey League Fixture 3 – Beckenham Place Park – 14th January
Mens
The Surrey League returned after a 2 month hiatus to its favoured Kent venue of Beckenham Place Park, the fixture also serving as an early preview for the Southern XC Championships at the end of the month. The undulating course, although well draining in some places owing to its legacy as a golf course, was extremely boggy in some sections in part due to the ‘Winter Wonderland’ that inhabits the area behind the main house during the festive period. Regardless the course had some very runnable sections making for a good test of fitness and XC skill.
The Men’s team lined up missing some of its key scorers from earlier in the season (Andy C-M, Freddie H, Seb A) however, following an encouraging result at the SoT Champs race before the festive break John Sanderson was showing some encouraging form and had a strong ‘engine room’ to back him up. G&G went into the fixture in 2nd place in the league standings, trailing Hercules Wimbledon following their incredible 186 point score at their home fixture in November.
The race broke up quite quickly with an in-form Jack Millar (THH 2nd Claim) looking to pick up his 3rd victory in 7 days. He, Dom Nolan (Croydon), Alex Howard (THH 2nd Claim) and Henry Heart (Belgrave) filled out the top 4 spots respectively. John managed to measure his effort well to close out Max Nicholls (Kent 2nd Claim) for 5th spot earning him his best placing this season, showing the class that we have been used to over the past many seasons on the ‘cross course.
After John the team event really started to get interesting, unlike the previous fixture there did not seem to be a dominant team filling out the top spots with strong representation from Kent, THH, HHH, Herc and SLH. Conspicuous by their absence were Belgrave Harriers who had been a force to be reckoned with at Wimbledon and Effingham this was in part due to illness/injury and a number of runners at the Valencia 10k.
Following John in for G&G was JVD delivering his best league performance of the year in 10th, followed by George Dollner (18th) with Tom Foster (20th) closing fast just behind him. Jake Bowles showed some of his huge potential with a brilliant 24th place. Then followed Ed Dixon (39th), Matt McDaniel (46th), Callum Job (55th). Run of the day went to Colin High (66th) returning after a long injury lay off, it was fantastic to see him back in his natural environment. James Harvey (69th) closed out the scoring 10. The scoring ten were superbly backed up by another twenty Gees – only the home team fielded a larger squad!
Once everyone was home, the head scratching and number crunching began. Initially it looked like G&G were still 2nd in the League, but wait – John S is missing from the results. Calculators back out – eventually the maths (and the website) showed that G&G were back on top of the League! Kent won the fixture by a healthy 88 points from G&G but crucially we had edged Herc by 30 points giving us a slender lead of 23 points overall.
So it’s all to play for at Lloyd park on the 11th of February!!
It’s also at this point in the season the age group competitions start to shape up.
In the U20’s Kay Davies could be in with a shout of the individual title as he currently lies in 2nd place just 2 points off the lead. All the more impressive since this is his first season in the U20 category.
Mark T and Phil Prike look like they have a firm hold on 2nd and 3rd place in the V50’s although they could improve their positions if the leader slips up or doesn’t compete in the final fixture.
Ladies
GGAC’s ladies finished as the 8th A team out of 14 to consolidate their position in the league after three matches. Once again, we were led home by Suzie Monk in 4th place (following 4th & 3rd place finishes in the opening fixtures).
The race strung out early, with a handful of runners breaking clear, with the pecking order established the early gaps remained mostly constant over the longer than usual 8km test. Suzie looked as strong as ever in the ankle deep mud that was slowly taking over sections of the course.
The A team was completed by Naomi Maini (47th), Hannah Knights (55th) competing over a distance that was something like 20 times longer than she usually would, followed by Nici Cahusac who managed to take the 3rd spot in the V50’s (57th) and Alice Batchelor (77th). With numbers looking depleted earlier in the week, it was great that we also had a B team (in 9th place) on the day. Well done to everyone who stepped up to help the team.
The ladies A team currently sit 7th in the standings (A teams) with 6th place Clapham Chasers a realistic target to overhaul at only 19 points ahead. G&G ladies will want a strong turn out at the last fixture to ensure they cement their spot in Div 1 for next year.
In the individual standings Suzie Monk appears to have a strong hold on second place going into the final fixture of the 22/23 season.