Grantchester Meadows 2006
By Leika Gooneratne
2pm, on Sunday the 5th of November, was cool - but not freezing, cloudy - but not overcast, and dry enough to produce some extra speedy times on the hardened terrain... It was Goldilocks' third bowl of porridge: perfect running conditions.
Some turned out freshly charged; others slightly more bedraggled from last night's Midsummer Common's fireworks and bonfire, for the short and swift loop round Grantchester Meadows. The women ran a course of around 3km and the men exactly double that.
Harriet Owles (Selwyn) led throughout the women's race to win it, showing vast improvement and shaving more than a minute off her time last year (albeit on a slightly quicker course due to a minor discrepancy in marking the course last year!). Laura Spence (Wolfson) and Helen Mort (Christs) showed the importance of depth, running strongly to gain 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Chiara Ferrara (Kings), back in form after long-term injury, came in 9th giving hardcore Hareys Laura Dixon (Emma) and Claire Nance (Selwyn) good reason to run hard. Catriona Mactier (Emma) showed outstanding improvement chasing down the aforementioned more experienced runners after just a year of training, herself.
The men's race was supremely exciting with the winner only being decided at the very last 100th of a second. The battle was between seasoned runners Will George (Jesus) and Paolo Natali (Christs), and Girton fresher Alistair Brownlee (also, World Junior triathlon champion). With 200m to the finish, Will and Paolo were head to head, with Will just pulling ahead looking like the deciding winner, when 100m later, Paolo drew upon a hidden source of energy and clambered in front of his nemesis. Neck and neck now, with every muscle strained full to the tether, they strode to the finish, Will clinching 1st place by just one-fifth of a second. Alistair followed in third, with Lee Harper (Clare) running impressively to nab the 4th spot. Andrew Duncan (Girton) and James Gill (Hughes Hall) showed almost unbelievable improvement thanks to hard training over the past year, while Andy Bell (Queens) gave a fine display of the result of doing exactly the opposite -- his newly adopted tactic of training once a week instead of six times, clearly showing in his decline to 6th place from coming 2nd last year. Let that be a lesson to all those cocky runners who think they can get by without training. Jokes apart, an enviable retention of fitness from this runner.
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Girton college with their extraordinarily strong ten-man team of Alistair Brownlee, James Appleton, Andy Duncan, ex-CUH&H captain Si Rutherford and others, brought Girton to the top of the College League, usurping Jesus' previous domination. The Trinity women's team of CUH&H President Joan Lasenby - whose talent continues to shock due to its remarkable lack of deterioration since her Blues' days twenty years ago - Erica Thompson, Julie Addison and others, overtook Selwyn to gain first place in the women's College League. St. John's and Wolfson tied for first place in Division II of the men, but St. John's lucked out in actual attainment of that position due to their antecedent place in the alphabet!
Many thanks to James Gill and Ali Connell, College League Organisers, who spent the greater part of their weekend organising the event and marking out the course. Also, thanks to Mark Coley who set new records in swiftness at collaborating results, and the marshals and timekeepers, without whom the event could not have run so proficiently. Full results are on the CUH&H website.