Wessex XC, Newbury - 11th Dec 2005
SALLY BEVES made her first cross country outing in a Stubbington vest a memorable one by becoming the best placed Stubby at the latest round of the Wessex Cross Country League.
She finished an impressive 23rd in the 4.5km ladies race at Newbury College, clocking 20min 46sec for the distance. Susie Bush from Newbury AC won the race in 16:09.
Ladies captain Chris Haskell managed to work her magic by persuading a strong female contingent to make the journey to Berkshire. She finished 48th in 23:59, behind Maggie Smith in 43rd (23:27) and the ever consistent Lesley Harding in 36th (22:02). Caroline Watts completed the women's team in 64th in 28:31, who placed 10th overall with hosts Newbury AC taking the team prize.
The promise of chocolate bars from men's captain Andy Simpson also worked wonders, with Stubbington able to field three men's teams.
Mark Le Gassick continues to do well on both road and cross country. He was apparently in thundering form in training the previous Thursday, harring around the Titchfield figure-of-eight like a man possessed.
Leading the Hampshire Road Race League, Mark once again demonstrated his fitness on the country with fifth place at Newbury, and was only separated from second place by two seconds. Weymouth's Ian Cardy won the 7.5km race in 22min 29sec, with Mark closing in with a time of 22:59, just pipped by two Wimborne runners and a Newbury rival.
Tor Duffin had a good run for 10th place in 24:22 and Andy Simpson was 29th in 25:41 to make up the men's A team.
The men's team finished third behind Winchester and Newbury, with the B team 18th and the C team 23rd.
Other results: 37 Mike Harper (26:39), 62 Ian Smith (28:52), 65 Noel Charlton (29:34), 91 Colin Elderfield (33:17), 96 Graham Westley (34:36), 99 Graham Watts (37:30). In junior action, Stubbington managed another good showing.
In the under-17 race, run over 4.5km, Stubbington were third in the team rankings thanks to 10th from Dan Dell (18:45), 12th from Daniel Payne (20:25) and 13th from Lloyd Payne (20:41).
The next race in the Wessex Cross Country League takes place at Devizes in Wiltshire on Sunday, January 8th - a quick sprint after the Stubbington 10km that day!
So if you are marshalling in the morning, and fancy a run out in the afternoon at Devizes, contact Andy Simpson on michelle.simpson@tiscali.co.uk or Chris Haskell at haskells@sarisbury.fsnet.co.uk