Finally some wintry weather arrived to make January feel seasonal in time for the 3rd race of the Birmingham League. Most of the Massey ladies and men took the coach down to Gloucester as we shared a race venue for a 3rd time this season, and the driver was kind enough to help acclimatise us to the cold afternoon ahead by keeping the temperature of the coach at freezing level. The camaraderie was great heading down, and it will be sad not to be at the same venue as the ladies for the final race of the season on 13th February. Having both teams there really adds to the support around the course as well, which seemed to be relentless and really pushed me on personally.
Crypt School offered some great facilities for a change this time, with coffees and hot showers available, and the course was fairly forgiving, being virtually hill free and firm underfoot, as well as less than 5 and half miles for the men. As a result it was a very fast start and pretty rapid race overall, with the leaders finishing in under 30 minutes and our own sweeper Mr Phillips back in just after an hour. As mentioned, the overall MF support and encouragement was fantastic, we really put the other clubs in the shade in this regard. We also had 35 men competing which is the highest amount this season, with XC debuts for Massey this season from Grahame Flanagan, Simon Neale, Stuart Liggins, Dave Fawkner and Geoff Sanders, as well as an unexpected return to the ranks of Carl Semple!
There was some fantastic improvements throughout the field with best season finishes for Dave Conway, Ross Cooper, John Hosie, Simon Brown, Gary Lawson and Jamie Turner. Massey A finished 13 out of 17 with 399 points, and the B team had a very strong performance finishing 5th out of 11 with 773 points. It is getting very tight though, teams below us outperformed us on Saturday, and just 27 more points would have seen us finish in 9th place, just 5 places per man. These are the margins we need to bear in mind for the final race, when the legs are screaming and the chest is heaving, can I put in a final effort and try and get past 5 more guys in front of me? It could be the difference between securing safety in division 2.
Overall though, another great effort and fantastic turnout for Massey men, be proud that you represented your club on what was a long day out and pretty cold as well. Many of us have families so it is really appreciated the effort made to put yourself out there. It would be great if we had 40+ on the line for the final race, also in Gloucester on Saturday 13th February. We need everyone there as fit and ready as possible to make a final push to secure our position which should be attainable if we can hold the current standard, and hopefully improve. Last year we needed a strong performance in the final race to go up, and everyone had an absolute stormer with many improving their position by 10, 20 places, and we were promoted in 2nd place. If you want to make that sort of improvement then you need to focus on doing the hill reps, and stamina work with some 10+ mile runs to build strength and arrive confident.
Race Report by Ross Cooper
A Team
15 Pete Freedman 30:57
51 Dave Conway 32:51
68 Dean Clarke 33:20
84 Ross Cooper 33:55
89 Dave Clarke 34:01
92 John Hosie 34:04
B Team
102 Mick O’Shea 34:24
113 Simon Brown 34:45
126 Tony Hoy 35:09
127 Jason Nicholson 35:11
145 Ian Redford 35:46
160 Gary Lawson 36:32
162 Jamie Turner 36:35
165 Dave Lee 36:59
166 Dean Semple 37:10
170 Richard Taylor 37:23
173 Grahame Flanagan 37:41
175 Simon Neale 37:48
180 Carl Semple 37:58
186 Steve Mumford 38:26
197 Richard Lapworth 39:07
199 Stuart Liggins 39:40
208 Martin Smith 40:15
209 Pete Paprcka 40:17
210 Leighton Jackson 40:24
218 Scott Kirton 41:25
224 Graham Patton 43:19
225 Dave Fawkner 43:51
228 James Towey 44:17
229 Martin Judge 44:18
232 Richard Sale 44:28
234 Ian O’Donnell 44:51
241 Geoff Sanders 50:09
244 Daniel Connolly 54:47
245 David Phillips 56:45