Herts County XC Championships

​The Hertfordshire County Cross Country Championship took place at Verulanium Park, St Albans on Sunday. The recent weather meant that the course was changed to avoid damage to sensitive parts of the park. The new course was described as “tough with very few flat sections and over 750 ft of elevation - it was either up or down and all on either tough grass or pure mud. The whole course was very strength sapping. The temperature was cold with a bit of wind - but at least it wasn’t raining!”

Lindsay Cook was the only female squirrel competing. The men had a scoring team of 6 and a total of 7 participants. Tom Webb was 5th overall. The rest of the scoring team was Nathan, Matt, Shahab, Mike and Ian finishing 28th, 39th, 50th, 59th and 68th respectively.

Lindsay and Barbara Sayers were on the course providing well needed cheers.

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Runners praised the organisers commenting “It was a really good event and credit to the organisers for persisting to keep the event on in challenging circumstances after concerns from the land owners.”

Full list of finishers are as below;

83rd, Lindsay Cook

5th, Tom Webb
28th, Nathan Pask
39th, Matt Sayers
50th, Shahab Ahmad
59th, Mike Bannister
68th, Ian Datlen
94th, John Auld

First Saturday of the Month
An intrepid 53 runners had great fun in the mud and puddles at the First Saturday of the Month on Letchworth’s Norton Common. First male home for the club was mud-loving Captain John Auld with Squirrel Alice Carty as first lady. 

Welwyn Half
Rachel Arnott was the only squirrel competing in the Welwyn Garden City Half Marathon. She completed the course in a superb 1:32:45 and was rewarded with 2nd Lady. Rachel described the race as “geat winter weather conditions made up for the muddy parts of the course on the Cole Green Way!”

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Country to Capital Ultra Marathon
Three incredible squirrels, Cara Sutton, Anna Gibson and Sue Foot battled 22 miles of mud, followed by 20 miles of the Grand Union Canal Tow Path to complete the ‘Country to Capital’ Ultramarathon starting in Wendover and finishing 69km later in London. Cara Sutton,

First Chance Exeter 10k
Elwyn  Howell completed the First chance Exeter 10k in a new PB time of 43:14 and finished 5th in his age category taking a minute off his previous best. Elwyn commented that a cold but sunny day down by the estuary made the route very enjoyable!

Parkrun
The recent relentless rains caused flooding resulting in cancellations at many of the country’s Parkrun courses but some squirrels still managed to complete their weekly 5k Parkrun!

​Ashton Court: Richard Barker (30:21), Georgia Barker (33:19)

Beltonhouse: Mel Flynn (28:33)

Clevedon Salthouse Fields: Katie Harbon (19:01), James Berry (24:08)

Fountains Abbey: Brian Judkins (36:40)

Fulbourn Hospital: James Godfrey (25:26), Frances Stanton (27:53)

Jersey: Tom Barclay (22:00)

Letchworth: Rachel Arnott (25:10), Daniel Martin (25:32)

Lowestoft: Chloe Lucas (21:40)

Milton Country: George Wright (23:49)

Sheringham: Russell Hagan (29:27)

Stevenage: Kris Whitmore (19:18), Chris Stokes (20:11), Jon Hunt (22:57), James Poulton (26:25)

Teignmouth Promenade: Elwyn Howell (21:43)

Valentines: Darren Matussa (24:05)