Cross Country 2012 / 2013

As we did so well last year, we are aiming to do the Sunday League again for the 2012/13 season to try and repeat or improve the great performances from last season.

RESULTS FROM 2011/12

Full results are at http://www.runherts.com/xc.htm but we in this last season we achieved the following:

Teams:
Ladies A     4th
Ladies B     n/a
Ladies Vets 7th

Mens A       3rd
Mens B       3rd
Mens Vets   1st

Individual Ladies:

• Seniors:  
• Camilla was 1st across the 5 races
• Sarah Dumbrill just out of the medals in 6th and Hannah in 10th with only 3 races!!!!
• Vets:  
• Jen Finlay and Louise could have been up in the Top 5-10 in their categories, but were unable to do the full 4 races in their categories.  
• Georgie was 2nd in her category!

Individual Men:

• Seniors:  
• John Millen and Richard Johnstone were the only Senior men to score on 3 races
• Vets:  
• Richard Bruce was unable to complete a 5th and improve his 6th position whilst Speirsy got 3rd
• Viddy got 3rd in his cateogory with a close battle between Graham and Simon Kitchener lower down the field
• Norman and Brian managed 11th and 15th respectively in the MV60 - with only doing 3 of the 5 races required! 

 
We relied on a good turnout to be able to count towards the team prizes and achieved this on most of the races - with a top turnout on a couple of the races.  The ladies, however, did not manage to get a full B team out on one occasion and so did not have enough to compete later in the season - despite the improved turnout later in the season.

THE 2012/2013 FIXTURES

The fixtures for the coming season are:-

Oct 28th:    Broxbourne (parkland course)
Nov 25th:   Grovelands (parkland course) NB.  Same day as FLORENCE so need a lot of help for this one
Dec 9th:      St Albans Striders (parkland course)
Jan 13th:     Royston (lovely rolling chalkland)
Feb 17th:    Watford Joggers (woodland New Clubhouse)

There are currently 16 clubs in the League. Most are Hertfordshire based, with a few coming from North London. There is just one race per match with the men and women running together. On average, 90 women and 180 men run and there’s a real mix in both abilities and ages.

ALL the races start at 10.30am. Race distances vary between 5 and 6 miles.

HOW TO ENTER

• All entries are taken on the day – but we will be hoping for people to show a commitment to run when they’ve expressed an interest
• What happens is that immediately after the race, someone from each of the clubs fills out a Declaration/Results Form giving the names, age groups and finishing positions of the runners from their club (each finisher is given a disc when they cross the finish line showing their place). The discs and declaration forms are returned to the race administrator then they use this information to compile the results.
• There is no entry - it is FREE (well the £50 club fee is paid by Arrows)
• We’ll set up a web-page on either the Facebook group or ARO’s website to keep a track of who is interested and entered.

WHY DO IT?

Apart from the point of view that it IS A LOT OF FUN.....

• They are small intimate and friendly (but competitive) events
• Not too long races, not too far away
• Everyone could have the chance to contribute (remember that you don’t score if you don’t have a full team)
• Cross country is proven to approve your ability on smoother road surfaces
• It’s free
• It’s fun (did we mention that

There are also a few in the club who have a passion for trails, scenery and the occasional bit of mud. Harpenden has some great countryside to explore and planned cross-country running should, with luck, give you the confidence to go out discovering if you aren’t doing it already

THE RULES

All the full rules for Sunday Cross Country League from RunHerts: http://www.runherts.com/index.htm

But some in summary:

• There are individual and TEAM prizes as follows:
• Men The first eight men will count as your “A” team with the following five counting as a “B” team. The first four Masters will count as the Masters team.
• Women The first five women will count as your “A” team with the following three counting as a “B” team. The first three Masters will count as the Masters team.

Masters Individual age groups: -

• Women 35 / 45 / 55 / 65
• Men 40 / 50 / 60 / 70

• In the individual competition, the best four results will count.
• Trophies will be awarded to the first three male and female open teams and the corresponding Masters teams. Masters will score for their open teams as well in their Masters team.
• Individual trophies are awarded as follows:
• Senior Men: M40, and M50 - first five places. M60 – first three; M70 - winner.
• Senior Women: W35, and W45 - first five places. W55 – first three; W65 – winner.
• Runners can only win individual trophies in their own age group. (In other words, Masters Competitors will only be able to win age-group trophies and not additional trophies as Senior Women or Senior Men. The thinking is that this will give more people an opportunity to win a trophy.)