The English National XC 2008
By Tim Pattison
Four Hareys made the journey from Cambridge to Alton Towers, yes the theme park, for the 2008 English Nationals. Captain Andy Duncan, Charlotte Roach and Rich Mathie went to pass the eve of the race at Rich's home in Uttoxeter, where they were greeted with a roast diner kindly prepared by Mrs Mathie. Tim Pattison meanwhile was back in his native Macclesfield where he was greeted with cold pasta, mistakenly flavoured with spinach.
The race day was grey, but with only a little rain or wind in the air, as well as being surprisingly warm. The course was set in two fields on the other side of the car parks from the theme park proper. In the second field a hill which would not have looked out of place in a fell race had inconveniently placed itself in the middle of the course. The footing was in places tuftily uneven and in others reasonably sticky, not ideal conditions for speed merchants or road runners.
First up was the inspirational Charlotte Roach, hoping to build on her 4th place finish at the European under twenties cross-country Championships and exceptional performance in the British Universities cross-countries, in the junior (Under 20) women's 5km race. Weathering the typically chaotic start Roach, running in the colours of her home club Vale Royal, eased into the leading pack as the women completed their first small lap of the course.
Steph Twell the under twenty European cross-country Champion began to stretch out the field as the women began to make their way around the medium and final lap. Roach found herself leading the charge against Twell closely followed by fellow international Joanne Harvey. Coming up to the hill Twell looked like she had a comfortable lead however Roach battled up the hill and elegantly flew off the top. Bravely Roach attacked and as she came round the bend into the last eight-hundred metres she looked to be closing on Twell. This determination and what with hindsight we know to be the early symptoms of a very bad headache may have cost Roach the silver as Harvey was able to turn the tables and force Roach into third place finish. Roach then snuck off through a gap in the Alton Towers fence to go through the haunted house and was only stopped from going on Nemesis, Oblivion et al, by the need to collect her bronze medal. All in all an awesome performance from an athlete we all hope to see a lot more of both in the light blue and in the colours of the United Kingdom.
Tim Pattison failed to follow Roach's example in the under twenty men's race. Starting off slowly and getting slower Pattison failed to measure up to an admittedly strong field. The only silver lining for Pattison was that he was able to summon what has now become an obligatory sprint finish to end in seventy-second place. Pattison will be hoping that this was just a blip and the upcoming inter-counties will show that his season has seen improvement.
The start of the senior men's national cross-country is always an awe-inspiring site, this year over twelve-hundred men from all corners of the country lined up and charged forward threatening to trample everything in their path. It was in this seething mass of men that two courageous hareys, Rich Mathie and Captain Duncan running for Burton and the Manx Harriers respectively, found themselves.
Mathie pressed through the starting maelstrom and fought hard round the three large laps of the twelve kilometre course doggedly scaling the hill each time. His face etched in pain, Mathie seemed to be falling backwards by the last hill however the results show a highly estimable three-hundred-and-fifty-fifth place finish. Duncan meanwhile recovering from injury wisely decided to treat the Nationals as a path on the route back to full fitness. This decision paid off as while videos of other athletes show deep scowls and beads of sweat the size of marbles Duncan was able to strike comedy poses and in general show off his biceps. Finishing strongly against the greybeards he had chosen to run with Duncan came in five-hundred-and-thirty-ninth.
The senior men's was won by Tom Humphries while in the senior women's race Liz Yelling took her fourth National cross-country title as a senior. A good times was had by all, with many former and future hareys running round the course there is no doubt that the Hare and the Hounds will continue to send its fittest and finest to one of the most prestigious races on the cross-country calendar.