Second Wessex cross country race
From Jonathan Hurford-Potter
Driving to the venue from Winchester it was raining heavily and our expectation was that this would be a very wet running race. On arrival however, as if by magic the rain ceased and the sun came out. A walk of the course revealed that not only were the conditions very soft underfoot but in places at the bottom of the course the ground was so waterlogged there was standing water at least 12 inches deep. Our runners were advised that they would just need to run through the water during their actual race rather trying to run around and keep their feet dry; it was inevitable that everyone would get very wet and muddy. Being an all grass track it was sensible to wear spikes but not all WADAC runners remembered to bring their spikes and so there were some stumbles and trips during the actual races.
The first race was the U11 girls and WADAC had three participants. A lower number than usual but there was a race the day before. The girls requested a team photo before the race and encouraged each other to perform to the best of their ability. The race had 30 runners and was a very competitive field. All the girls worked hard under difficult running conditions with Naomi Hurford-Potter coming 4th followed by Isabelle Goulding 18th and Evie Churcher in 23rd place. It was clear that spikes made a real difference on this occasion and Evie’s mother committed to buying some ready for the next race!
The second was the U11 boys and we had two participants. Like the girls the boys were really motivated and gave it their all. Alex Olestsenko came 11th followed by Felix Humphries in 21st place. There were 29 runners.
The U13 girls and boys race only had one competitor in each. For the girls we had Aimee Bowerman and this was her first competitive race at this level. Aimee did brilliantly and came 14th out of a field of 24. The U13 boys runner was Fraser Noble and I think if he had brought his spikes we may well have managed a podium finish. As it was Fraser came 4th and that was after falling along the route. He was very stoic about his performance but his dad wished that he had brought his spikes!
Overall we had a very small but well formed WADAC team and the only think lacking was cakes at the end of the race. Apologies to all the runners. It will not happen again!