It was an intrepid crew of Bournville Harriers who made the trip over to Alton Towers on Saturday for the National Cross Country Championships. I arrived with Helen and Paul, and the ladies team was made up of Sally, Linda, Kat, Anna and Tania as well as Helen and I. We were fortunate to have the use of Paul’s tent, which turned out to be remarkably easy to put up, and easy for the others to spot.
We arrived in time to see some of the junior races. Soon enough it was time to line up for the start of the biggest cross country race I had ever been in – 487 ladies altogether. The course was two laps and was mainly gentle undulations, but with a shocker of a hill in the last third of the lap. You know the Alton Towers ‘Oblivion’ ride where there is a virtual 90 degree drop, well they must have modelled it on this hill, and of course we were supposed to be running up it. (Linda and Kat told us later they had spotted it beforehand but left it as a surprise!) It was lucky that it wasn’t too muddy as the best I could manage was walking with a bit of arm action. Fortunately Sally’s parents were stationed on the hill to give us all a much-needed cheer. Kat’s mum provided welcome support too, along with Angie Dakin and Millie.
The race was won by Liz Yelling, and Sally Gray was the first lady home for Bournville Harriers in an impressive time of 30.26 – all that marathon training must be paying off. All the other ladies put in strong performances, Linda managing to complete the race well, despite struggling with a hamstring problem throughout the second lap. We were finished in time to enjoy our top quality goody bags while we watched the men start. Paul, Phil Dakin, James Taylor and Dan were out to represent Bournville in the line up of 1500. It’s really quite scary having that number of men in shorts running towards you at speed! The day, and indeed the cross country season was rounded off by a trip to the retail area for that elusive hoody at last…
Marianne Hensman
The women finished 27 out of 61 complete teams (last year 24 out of 28 teams - clearly Alton Towers is more popular than Sunderland!). Full results here, photos here
| Pos. |
No. |
Time |
Name |
| 166 |
4544 |
30:26 |
Sally Gray |
| 177 |
4544 |
30:42 |
Marianne Hensman |
| 189 |
4543 |
30:58 |
Anna-Louise Didier |
| 224 |
4546 |
31:48 |
Linda Howell |
| 281 |
4541 |
33:29 |
Kat Abbott |
| 366 |
4542 |
36:03 |
Tania Ugwu |
| 377 |
4548 |
36:16 |
Helen Owen |
