CUHH v Thames Hare and Hounds 2006
By Will George
With the traditional Hare and Hounds time cast aside, a bevy of eager runners arrived with plenty of time for a leisurely perusal of the famed Wimbledon common courses. Sadly the men of the club were defeated in their attempt to scout the terrain by their inability to find large parts of it, fortunately by the time the race began an array of flags were safely in place to mark the way, despite the best attempts of the local ASBO generation.
As a traditional Mob Match, all runners started the race together, with the ladies of the club out-numbering the gentlemen for the first time in recent memory. Unfortunately their keenness was not matched by the Thames ladies who failed to make an appearance, apparently being elsewhere occupied. Undeterred, Club Captain Claire Day led the women out of the woods twenty-odd minutes later, hotly pursued by Scottish international Charlotte Forbes with fresher Polly Keen completing a trio of women under the twenty-five minute mark, a promising sign for the varsity contest to come. Having suffered a brief spell of directional confusion previous race leader Georgie Rutherford came home shortly after with Hannah Brice and Laura Spence in close attendance.
The gentlemen meanwhile faced a more sturdy challenge from their hosts, with GB marathon man Huw Lobb amongst the opposition. Paolo Natali and Will George pulled away mid-way through the race, however, and worked well together, until the Italian's down hilling skills proved decisive in the final stages. A similar battle was fought out between Blues star Matt Armstrong and fresher James Kelly, with the former prevailing in a tense finish. After a prolonged spell in no-mans land Matt Grant emerged as the next Harey home, showing an impressive improvement over this distance. Special mention also to Andy Duncan for smashing last year's time by almost four minutes. Overall CUHH were victorious 139-161.
The strength in depth of the ladies team is particularly encouraging as they seek to avenge last year's defeat, and whilst numbers for the men were disappointing, the performances by both members old and new were ample compensation.