TWENTY one of Thurrock Harriers’ veteran athletes completed the tough 5 mile cross country course at Claybury on Saturday.
They were competing for the Essex Veterans Cross Country Championship. Best effort, among many good performances, came from Grays based Scott Rice. He took the silver medal in the 40+ race in what was a very strong field.
Scott is always a good judge of pace and tactics and Saturday was no exception. He was in the top 3 for most of the race which was led from start to finish by his great rival from the Essex league, Alan Smalls from Colchester.
Over the last 600 metres Scott pulled away from last years winner, Spencer Hempstead (Ilford) and Alan Reason (Harwich). He charged up the final climb amid great jubilation from his spectating team mates.
The team he led in scored an admirable 77 points. But they had to settle for 4th place. John Green 12th, Paul Green 24th and Don Lawless 32nd did their best to bring home the medals but narrowly failed.
Veteran ladies, all 6 of them, ran to form. Toni Noble ran a gritty race to finish 15th. Silvia Bognarova-Meredith’s 28th position reflected her current good form. Victoria Peacock beat some very experienced opponents to finish 37th. In only her second race for the club Sam Tuck just pipped Sarah Driver in 40th place with Sarah, given the same time, 1 place behind.
Another runner, Jodie Farrell, in only her 3rd run for the Club showed real promise in finishing 46th. There were 93 finishers in the ladies veterans category.
The 50+ mens team were also looking for medals but, in the absence of the very experienced Mick Bumstead, suffering from a hamstring injury, had to settle for 5th. Jon Metcalf ran outstandingly well to finish 9th. It was good to see Eamonn Shelley back to form in 12th place. Rob Russell, consistent as ever, was 24th. Phil Oatham closed in the team with a back to form performance in 37th place.
Other Thurrock finishers were John Arthur 40th, Bernie Johnson 45th, Steve Kemp 64th (92 finishers). Other finishers in the 40+ plus race were Nick Trencher 53rd, Nigel Instance 54th, John Russell 69th, Gary Rowlett 85th.
