Farley Mount, Winchester - 8th October 2005
IT was first stop Farley Mount for the opening Hampshire League cross country fixture of the season.
The Winchester course provided a testing race for runners. The terrain was dry, but quite lumpy in places, and you had to watch the tree roots.
The course included what one runner described as "a stonking hill".
The men's senior team struggled with injuries to some key personnel. Blazing a trail across the country park was Mark Le Gassick who led the team home in 17th place completing the 9km three-lap course in 30min 33sec - an improvement of 10 places on a year ago.
He was followed by Alasdair Ewing who finished 83rd despite carrying a knock, Steve Marshall 100th , Chris Vernon 110th and Andy Simpson placed 120th .
Basingstoke's Philip Tulba won the race in 28:19, just ahead of the Southampton Running Club duo of Simon Plummer and Andy Morgan-Lee.
Competing in Division 1, Stubbington's senior men's team finished 10th of 10, with Aldershot, Farnham & District taking team honours on the day.
Team manager Andy Simpson said: "The team was a disappointing 10. We are going to need all the help we can get from other runners, as any runners who compete for Stubbies will knock our rival runners' positions."
The men's veteran's team fared slightly better on the day, placing fourth in division one behind Overton Harriers. The positions for the vets race was Alasdair in 16th , Steve 25th and Chris 31st .
Andy Simpson added: "Special mention must got to Mike Harper who nearly beat Andy, probably as close as it gets to Mike!"
Senior men's results:
17 Mark Le Gassick 30:33, 83 Alistair Ewing 33:57, 100 Steve Marshall 35:02, 110 Chris Vernon 35:37, 120 Andy Simpson 36:02, 121 Mike Harper 36:04, 129 Graham Bell 36:21, 136 G James 36:35, 170 Phil May 38:05, 179 Andy Phipps 38:35, 190 Mike Bell 39:03, 212 Colin Elderfield 40:19, 245 Gilbert Yeates 46:05.
In the women's race, Stubbington managed to field a team who placed 18th overall. Lesley Harding was the club's first runner to finish in 70th place with a time of 27min 54sec. Geraldine Perrier clocked 29:52 for 93rd and Erica Goodyear ensured a scoring team with 35:39 for 110th.
Aldershot teenager Stephanie Twell saw off the experienced Winchester runner Kath Bailey to win the senior women's race in 21:26.
The juniors were represented by the Payne brothers who were having their first outing in an under-17 race and found it tough going.
They were lacking a bit of training, but it was the first race of the season and they should be whizzing along by the time we get to the Southerns.
Andy Simpson said: "It was unfortunate that two juniors dropped out at the last minute otherwise we would have had a team.
"Going forward, hopefully we can get some under-17 junior teams out."
The next Hampshire Cross Country League takes place on Saturday, November 5th . For details contact either Andy Simpson or Chris Haskell.