After a successful evening at The Comet Sports Awards it was back to business again the very next day for North Herts Road Runners.

Travelling the short distance to Hampstead Heath to take part in the Southern Counties Cross Country Championships, several squirrels took part in what is regarded to be the most famous and most testing cross country course in the country.  First to finish for the club in the energy sapping mud and hills of the senior mens 15K race was Andrew Leach in 00:53.24, next up was Veteran of the Year nominee Mark Vaughan in 00:58.39; Darren Sunter 00:59.30; Dan Hills 00:59.50; Darren Matussa 1:06:04;Vince Wright 1:07:08; Dan Martin 1:07:45; Richard Harbon, winner of the Services to Sport Award, in 1:08:45; Greg Pounder 1:14:48 and Jonny Spinks 1:25:26.  The senior ladies ran a shorter but just as testing 8K course and the first squirrel to finish was Katie Harbon in 00:34:00.  She was followed by Paula Adams 00:38:52; Jo Harbon 00:45:21; Georgina Quayle 00:45:33; Rachel Pounder 00:53:17; Lindsay Cook 00:54:37 and Carina Quayle 00:55:16.  The mens' team placed 31st out of 69 teams and the ladies placed 44th of 63 teams.

Several squirrels also travelled for various Parkruns.  Furthest to travel was Chris Priestley who ran in Melbourne, Australia in a time of 24:41.  Pete Sibbett was in Bedford to record the impressive time of 20:22; Chris Poole ran at Colchester Castle in 22:52 and Kettering saw Steve Williamson finish in 23:45.  8 club members ran at Stevenage.  Darren Matussa finished in third place in 18:42, Chris Poole 19:37; Ollie Garbas 19:42, Chloe Lucas was second lady to finish which she did in the time of 22:47.  Also running were Joe Sherry 24:11, Bob Davis 26:05 and Sheila Leavy 30:08.
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Sunday 22 January saw the Santa Pola Half Marathon take place in Spain.  Miranda Morgan set a superb new personal best with 2.01.48 and was followed by Joy Stroud (2.21.14), Jane Tyler (2.22.50) and Coach of the Year winner Brian Bailey overcame a list of injuries to finish in 2.23.28.

On a frozen course at Sharnbrook, near Bedford, the Squirrels mens’ team beat off a strong challenge from Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers to clinch victory on the day and the Three Counties Cross-country League title. North Herts pipped the Flyers by just two points at the end of the five-race season. 
 
The Sharnbrook contest was the Squirrels’ first outing in redesigned race-day vests, and Kit Secretary Mark Vaughan celebrated by winning the trophy for second man over the series of races. 
 
The NHRR ladies team finished 4th in the League standings and the Club‘s combined male and female teams were 3rd.
 
Jim McConnell was first finisher on the day for North Herts, pushing the pace hard in the first mile and eventually finishing 6th. Katie Harbon was first across the line for the North Herts ladies’ team.
 
McConnell also took the series prize for 1st 35-plus man and Ed Price followed suit as first in the 40-plus category. 
 
Yuko Gordon’s outstanding performances over the season were rewarded with first place in the 55-plus category – a remarkable achievement given she beat competitors 10 years her junior. 
 
Full NHRR placings: 6 Jim McConnell, 8 Mark Vaughan, 10 Adam Bowller, 11 Rob Harris, 13 Ed Price, 18 Darren Sunter, 23 John Rayner, 28 Dan Hills, 31 John Auld, 53 Nick Malpeli, 58 James Keogh, 60 Adrian Sherwood, 62 Stuart Overton, 65 Katie Harbon, 74 Vince Wright, 81 Richard Harbon, 99 Greg Pounder, 115 Kat Burr, 144 Rob Milburn, 148 Paula Adams, 149 Pete Sibbett, 178 Yuko Gordon, 180 Chloe Lucas, 188 Jonny Spinks, 190 Chris Poole, 211 Steve Williamson, 216 Jo Harbon, 217 Helen Harbon, 234 Matt Ankers, 237 Adam Wilson, 289 Rachel Pounder, 298 Lindsay Cook, 299 Andee Price, 302 Helen Ferguson, 321 Brian Judkins.
 
Preferring to stick to the roads, Ian Sutcliffe and Chris Stokes competed in the Fred Hughes 10-mile race at St Albans. Sutcliffe was 4th in the V70 category in a time of 1.35.58 and Stokes was pleased to hit his target time with 1.10.02.
 
Four Squirrels headed to Snowdonia for the Winter Trail Wales Half-marathon. In crisp mountain weather, Andy Grudzinski recorded a new personal best time for the event with 2.45.12, running the second half of the course with Ashley Murray-Richard, who recorded the same time. Michelle
Grudzinski crossed the line in 2.35.17, and Dawn Power was delighted to finish her first-ever trail event in 3.08.31.

It was a quiet weekend of racing for North Herts Road Runners with only a few members braving the wintry conditions on Saturday in parkruns around the country.

In Bedford, Nicky Kemp set a new 5km personal best of 23:09 finishing in 5th lady and first female vet 40. Steve Tracey was the 1st male vet 45 and 10th overall completing the 2 laps around the park in 20:14.

In Stevenage, Ollie Garbas (picture) was first home in 5th position in 20:09 narrowly beating Simon Poole in 6th in 20:14. Bob Davis finished 68th in 26:37, Ellie Scott was 87th in 27:44 and Jenni Spurr-Jones completed the Fairlands Valley course 125th in 29:53.

Darren Matussa and Chris Poole travelled to Essex to take part in the inaugural Roding Valley parkrun. Darren finished in 5th position in 18:21 and Chris was seconds away from his PB in 22:25 in 33rd place.
Further afield, Joe Sherry took park in the Bexley parkrun (89th in 26:04) and Phil Hunt was in Durham (58th in 23:10).

NHRR Members and visitors. Welcome to our new web site. We hope you like the look and feel. We have just gone live, so here are a few hints and tips:
1. Navigatgion menus should be self explanatory. Most the previous content is still here, under one of the menu items
2. The all important forum hasn't changed, although it is integrated into the web site now
3. Membership page allows you to download the current membership form to join or renew. Paypal / card payments will be enabled soon
4. News reports will be published under the News menu. You will notice that you can add comments to news reports also
5. Any further questions or feedback, contact me on [email protected]

Best regards,

Steve W (NHRR web dude).