Gloucestershire Cross-Country League, Little Rissington – 15 October 2016
Bourton Roadrunners were proud to host the first of the season’s Cross Country Fixtures at the new course, Kestrel Barn in Little Rissington with the kind permission of Michael and Philip Ainsley, the Little Rissington farming brothers. Feedback from runners, outside Gloucestershire as well as within, was that it was the toughest, but best Cross Country Course they had done, with the number of competitors reaching a new high. In the men’s race alone there were 240 finishers.
The course involved killer hills, twists and turns and beautiful scenery; although strangely no-one seemed to stop to look at the views during the race!
Start of Men’s at Little Rissington
The winner of the Senior Men, from Team Bath, was Daniel Jones in 31:48. He was followed in by his team mate Jim Webb in 31:52. Close on their heels in 3rd place was Cheltenham and County Harrier, Anthony Bailey in 31:59, in 4th Garry Hughes, Stroud & District 32:02 and 5th CLC’s Will Ferguson in 32:04. Cheltenham and County Harriers lead the team race overall and in the Masters.
In the Ladies Race the runaway winner was Emily Smith for CLC Striders, finishing 1 minute 48 seconds ahead of 2nd place in a fantastic time of 22:02. An absolute class run. University of Bath ladies, Jessica Gibbon and Claudia Kelsall, worked together for 2nd and 3rd place in 23:50 and 24:05. University of Bath are ahead for the Overall Ladies Team and Forest of Dean AC for Masters.
It was great to see a good turn out of runners from the host Club, Bourton Roadrunners. Mike Smith, who avoids Cross Country like the plague, was persuaded to run and finished 81st overall in 37:33. Next in was Robin Goodwill, 121st, in 39:32, Phil Waters and Ben Montilla both finished strongly in 211th and 226th with times of 47:16 and 52:31.
L-R Margaret Hollamby, Susan Hunt, Gill Carrick and Steph Lane.
Steph Lane was first Bourton finisher in the Ladies Race in 20th position with a time of 25:57. Margaret Hollamby was well up the field with a fantastically strong run and finish in 71st place and a time of 30:42, which not surprisingly made her 1st LV/60. Susan Hunt also performed really well in 77th position and 31:03. Making up the team, Gill Carrick just had to look back to see how many were behind her to realise what a good run she’d had in 132nd and 36:19.
The atmosphere and support was amazing and so many members; past and present and friends of BRR turned out to help on the day. Our grateful thanks go to them for making the event so successful. But most of all, thanks to Philip and Michael Ainsley the landowners, who were so supportive and helpful leading up to the event and even turned out on the day to watch the races.
The added bonus was that a good amount was made for Charity from refreshments sold and cakes donated by Bourton Roadrunners.
Highlights
The Gloucestershire Cross-Country League kicked-off its 2016 series with the inaugural hosting at Kestrel Barn, Little Rissington, near Bourton-on-the-Water.
The event was organised by Norm and Ali Lane, with full support from Bourton Roadrunners, but special thanks go to Michael and Philip Ainsley, the Little Rissington farming brothers, for granting their kind permission to use their land.
In front - Anthony Bailey, Cheltenham & Co. Harriers (271); to the left - Will Ferguson, CLC (725); just behind - Garry Hughes, Stroud & District (778).
Bourton Juniors at the Gloucestershire Cross-Country League race, Little Rissington. Visit the
Juniors Pages of
our website for further details, including their race report.
L-R Connor McGuiness-Dean, Jago Tarrant, Kan Ikeda, Finnen McNiffe, Louis Mutsaars, George Farley.
Other reports may be found on our recent race reports page.