Wessex XC League
HE is the king of the Wessex Cross Country League. All stand to pay tribute to Stubbington's Mark Le Gassick.
Whatever water Mark is drinking this year, he ought to bottle it, because he is having some fantastic season.
On the road, he has been sensational, and is in a good position for a good overall position in the Hampshire Road Race League standings.
Over cross country, Mark placed 114th at the Saucony National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London, he was 29th at the Southern Championships in Devon and placed joint second in the Hampshire Cross Country League.
Now Mark has claimed his first title of the season after being crowned Wessex Cross Country League Senior Men's champion following the final race of the series in Taunton, Somerset.
He won the race with a 31-second margin from Newbury AC's Andrew McLeod to wrap up the title from the six-race series. Two firsts, a third and a fifth place secured the crown by three points from McLeod, with another Newbury runner, Nigel Head, in third.
Taking all the credit for Mark's success, Stubbington's shy and retiring Muddy Boots guru, Andy Simpson, said: "I won't take all the credit as his coach for pushing him to compete in the last race. Well done Mark."
Because of the highly spread nature of the Wessex League venues, and their clashes with other races, this has been one of the hardest competitions for Stubbington to compete in. But Andy has managed to cajole runners to compete, and after Taunton, the club finished third men's team and seventh in the veterans category.
In the final race, Phil May placed 37th in 35min 47sec, and the fast-improving Chris Munro was just a minute and a half down with 46th in 37:17. Bunching well, they were followed by Colin Elderfield in 53rd (39:17), four seconds ahead of Nick Crane in 54th , with Graham Watts, who has been a stalwart of the series, placing in 63rd in 47:15.
Wells City Harriers were the top team on the day, with the men's A team in seventh and the B team in 15th .
Despite Andy Simpson's bribe of a box of chocolates to any Stubbington lady who ran at Taunton, most, it seemed, were sticking to their Lent resolutions by giving up the sweet stuff until Easter - although Chris Haskell was prepared to travel to Somerset from Plymouth to race if there was a team. Sadly, Stubbington were unable to muster enough ladies to compete.
As for overall placings, which required four scoring races, Andy Simpson, who ran all bar the final event, placed 17th overall, and Graham Watts was 58th . Graham was 10th in the 45 to 49-year age category.