CUHH v Thames Hare and Hounds 2005
By Aidan Brown
Fifty Cambridge runners invaded Wimbledon Common last Saturday, to race against the oldest cross-country club in the country, Thames Hare and Hounds. The course, with its seven miles of tight, wooded paths, and muddy inaccessibility, is not designed for spectators. However, the home straight more than makes up for that. Runners appear out of the woods, hurtling down a ludicrously long, steep hill, and skim towards the finish across a luminous arc of pearly grass. First across the line was Paolo Natali (38:28) 20 seconds ahead of Will George (38:49). Matt Armstrong (39:31) dashed out of nowhere in the dying minutes of the race, and flew past Ward, Bristow and Hope to claim an impressive third place. Owain Bristow (39:36) has made massive progressive, improving on his time of last year by almost 2 minutes. Rich Hewitt (40:25) has also put in a year's hard training to cut well over two minutes from last year's time. A large, black dog, with a disturbing taste for raw runner, also got involved, nibbling at the heels of Paolo Natali and Alex Robson.
In the women's race, of 6km, Rachel Disley, of Thames Hare and Hounds crossed the line first, followed by Tricia Peters (25:14) and Claire Day (25:43) of Cambridge. Day, recently recovered from injury, is wasting no time in getting back into the action. Kyla-Bowen Lagrange (26:30) and Sarah-Kummerfeld (26:46), taking fourth and fifth, have both made excellent progress over the summer. Only ten women ran last year's race. This year we had twenty: an encouraging sign for the future of both clubs.
Fifty tired, satisfied athletes returned to Cambridge, and watched the first fireworks blossoming into the twilit sky. In a month, fourteen of them will return to Wimbledon, to face Oxford's finest in the 115th Blues match.
Cuppers Cross Country takes place on Saturday 19th of November, at Wandlebury, on the outskirts of Cambridge. This is a college competition, and the selection race for the varsity matches.