From Dan McKeown…
Photo credit Nigel Pepper
As is often the case, the final race of the PECO cross country season at Roundhay Park was a fixture clash with our very own Ilkley Moor Fell Race, which didn’t augur well for a good team turnout.
In particular, our men’s team needed to hold onto second place in their division to secure a prestigious promotion to the PECO Premier Division. We started the day tied on points with Nidd Valley, but ahead on away goals or some other weird tiebreaker voodoo. There were also a few other teams ready to pounce if we slipped up.
As a great philosopher once observed, squeaky bum time.
Not being eager to let a poor turnout scupper our promotion push (and being by nature a bit over competitive), I’d hit the phone and done a vigorous recruitment drive during the week. By the time entries closed, I’d strengthened our hand with Lawrence ‘The Red Menace’ McCourt, Mike ‘Nike’ AC, and some lad called Jack Wood. I enforced a strict Saturday night curfew on our three newcomers and further mitigated our chances of mishap by making them travel to the fixture in separate vehicles.
As it turned out, we had quite a decent number of the team that had guided us through most of the PECO season, including Ed Hobbs, who had two top-10 finishes to his name in the season to date. My optimism was by now through the roof as we only needed eight runners to score, and I was half tempted to take the morning off and go and feed the ducks instead. However, the Ilkley vest is much like a Gurkha knife: once you’ve got it out of the drawer, you can’t put it back until it’s got muddy. Except that obviously you then wash it before putting it back, unless you want your drawer to end up smelling like a wildlife sanctuary.
The Roundhay XC course is pretty much the opposite of a fell race in that it starts off *down* a hill and, where the usual uphill start of a fell race separates the wheat from the chaff in fairly short order, the chaff is still very much part of the equation by the time the XC course screeches into a sharp, overcrowded right-hand bend at the bottom of the slope. Just for added hilarity, this is the one race of the season where the men and women set off at the same time, so the fine tactical sparring of the ladies’ race is somewhat lost amid the testosterone-fuelled melee that ensues.
After dead man’s corner, there is a short, sharp hill and a long trek round the wide open expanse of Soldiers’ Field for the runners to settle into some sort of rhythm, before skirting a couple of sport fields and wandering off into the woods to negotiate a couple more ups and downs. The course eventually returns and dog-legs back up the slope we started on, to conclude the league season in somewhat breathless style.
As we elbowed our way onto Soldiers’ Field I was treated to the site of the race leaders disappearing into the distance with our very own Lawrence to the fore. After a lively battle, he finished in third, with Ed also making the top 10 in seventh place.
This was just the shot in the arm our men’s team needed and we went on to finish with easily our best score of the season and wrap up our promotion spot. (Although it STILL wasn’t enough to beat Wharfedale, who were promoted in first place with five straight victories from the year – very well done to them.)
Our women’s team finished a creditable mid-division on the fixture, despite only having three scorers with six required. This was spearheaded by a superb top 10 finish for Ruth Kitchen (eighth place), with Alison Bennett earning top spot in the FV60 category and a fine supporting run from Sarah Lambert.
Alison’s run also earned her the overall win in the FV60 category for the season. Likewise, a strong race from Steve Gott on the men’s side enabled him to snatch the MV45 prize for the year.
Having run the numbers, I’ve determined that without our trio of eleventh-hour entries for the men’s team, we’d have finished some way down the table, so I feel rather less guilty about badgering them all week and promising them a bunch of favours. (I have to help Mike AC with his computing homework, and my Harrier of the Year nomination is already promised to Jack.)
Still, now we have PREMIER LEAGUE cross country to look forward to, we can look forward to being sold off to some shadowy overseas regime, shipping a massive points deduction for violating financial fair play rules, getting relegated through successive divisions faster than a fruitbat’s breakfast making its way through its small intestine, and eventually having to wind up the whole operation, rebrand and start over.
Grassroots sport at its finest.
Well done to everyone who represented Ilkley through the PECO season. If you’ve kept hold of your number, there’s one more opportunity to do battle at the PECO relays on 26 March. Details will be available on the PECO League website (although the page hasn’t been updated yet.)
Edit: The ladies xc cumulative race results are now available and Alison Bennett secured first place in the F60 age group in the league. Also, Archie Budding (juniors) came first in his age group Yr 9-11, he had won every one of the four races he took part in. Archie will be moving up to the senior Harriers this year.
Women’s race (271 ran)
8 Ruth Kitchen 00:32:23
68 Alison Bennett 00:37:44 (1st V60)
247 Sarah Lambert 00:53:25
Men’s race (375 ran)
3 Lawrence McCourt 00:26:07
7 Edward Hobbs 00:27:08
21 Daniel McKeown 00:27:59
24 Steven Gott 00:28:18 (1st V45)
31 Jack Wood 00:28:35
40 Danny Thompson 00:29:16
52 Michael Abrams-Cohen 00:29:53
115 Adam Gerrish 00:32:22
183 David Singleton 00:34:40
211 Robert Budding 00:35:37
226 Matthew Snow 00:36:18
306 Alan Travis 00:41:02
338 Roar Leijssen 00:44:35