CUHH v RAF v Eastern Counties 2005
By Aidan Brown
Last year, October saw the Hare and Hounds battle the RAF and East Anglia Athletics through ten kilometres of dripping woodland and soggy school playing fields. The lake had flooded. This year, the Cambridge course cowered under a grim, grey sky, which never quite lived up to expectations. The course consists of one huge field ringed by unsurfaced tracks and grassy banks, and ends in a gruesome corkscrew of steep hills and hedges. One bonus of such a convoluted course is being able to hear the cheering from the finish line quite a few minutes before you get there.
In the women's race, Tanya Taylor (22:26) of EAA came home first, followed by two of her teammates. Sarah Kummerfeld, (23:38) of Cambridge took fourth. She has made astounding progress over a summer's steady training, and Jodie Digby (23:46) of the RAF could not quite catch her. Catharine Wood (24:00) followed, just snatching 6th place from fresher Tricia Peters (24:02), reversing their positions from the freshers' fun run. Both look set to make substantial contributions in the Varsity Match this year. In the men's race, Aidan Brown broke away on the first hill, in a peculiar tactical manouvre which left most of the Blues team cursing his name. They caught the scalliwag up on the flat, however. Will George, Rowan Hooper and Paolo Natali, all of Cambridge, took the lead, and maintained a more moderate, but still admirable, pace. Unfortunately, Hooper developed breathing problems half way round the first lap, and dropped out soon after. 10km of perspiration later Natali and George led the University team in to take all five top places, with Natali (34:01) just beating George (34:06) in a tense sprint finish. Ex Captain Ben Hope (34:45) snapped up third place, ahead of fresher Pat Ward (34:55). The Whitewash Dave Cole (35:31) of the RAF, took sixth place. Forty odd runners followed, all sweating buckets, some shaking from exhaustion. One, Ulrich Paquet, had made the creative decision to run in bare feet, blackening his soles. Running can be hard, but the rewards - wet grass and clean air, the camaraderie, the victory and even the defeat- can be amazing.
Tired competitors of all denominations returned to Wilberforce road for a spot of tea and cake, and for the prize giving ceremony. In the women's race, the final team scores were very close: the Hare and Hounds were not quite able to overcome the impressive lead of Taylor and co. and ended up just four points behind EAA. In the mens' race the RAF took second place to the University, with the EAA, only just fielding the requisite 5 men, trailing in third. The results are encouraging, particularly for the women. Even after the loss of four blues runners, the team came out with a result just as good as last year's. With the addition of talented freshers, like Peters and Ward, and the continued dedication of all the old hands, the Hare and Hounds look ready to take on anything this winter. In a fortnight we run on Wimbledon common, a beautiful muddle of a course, with a windmill.
The next College League Race will be held on Sunday, 30th October, at Granchester Meadows.