Our veteran women once again enjoyed success at the North London Cross Country Championships on Saturday, winning an individual veteran bronze medal and placing third in the veteran team competition.
With just five female members completing the hilly, muddy course at Alexandra Palace, the club’s turnout was half that of last year’s event, which was held closer to home in Ruislip. After winning a bronze veteran medal at the London Championships at Parliament Hill last weekend, the in-form Grazina Narviliene gained another, leading the club home in eighth place overall. Just a minute later and Sarah Richardson was across the line in 19th place and the fourth veteran to finish. The scoring team was completed by W50 Jane Ruhland in 49th and W55 Carol Jones in 51st, less than 20 seconds separating the two. After struggling with the course last year, final team member Patricia Thomas won a personal battle with a competitive run in 66th. The team finished 7th overall out of 14.
Like the women, the men also fielded a smaller team than last year. The six-man squad was just enough to close a team, but they put in a respectable performance, finishing 11th overall out of 21. New member James Hughes (27th) had the honour of leading them home, but had to battle hard to keep ahead of fellow triathlete Pete Flewitt (28th). Pete just missed out on the medals, being fourth veteran. The consistent Rob Brown had another good race: given the larger field, his 57th place was on a par with last year’s 53rd. Andy Dodd (89th) made a positive start to the race but fell badly on the first of the three ascents of the hill and did well to finish. Veterans Ian Leslie (97th) and Steve Plested (129th) completed the scoring team.
Full results available here