Thames Valley Cross Country 2011/12 - Page 5 - General running

Sleepy Bear

12/12/2011 at 17:34

Good - it'll keep him quiet! I'm just in it for the mud and the larks! So what's the Reading course like next week? I hear there's only one hill in it?

IronCat5 in the Hat pirate

pirate

12/12/2011 at 18:02

Only 1 real hill, but you do it twice .

I don't like the monotonous bit round the rugby fields. Reminds me too much of school XC.

Sleepy Bear

12/12/2011 at 20:57

Thanks for the tip off - will close my eyes for that bit (not really - I'd fall over)

Sprint for the line

13/12/2011 at 07:19

Results are out - I will take a 25th place all the way to the bank

Sleepy Bear

13/12/2011 at 08:31

Hey nice one!

I see some of the folks have "penalty" under their number instead of a placing (not me luckily - phew!). What does that mean - I've never seen that before on a results sheet.... And in fact - all their numbers are the same - not even people to make a team?

Edited: 13/12/2011 at 08:35

Sprint for the line

13/12/2011 at 08:37

Hi SB.

A penalty score applies when a club cannot fill a full team (i.e. 3 ladies including 1 vet, 6 men including 1 vet)

For every member they are short of a full team, the last scoring place for any club, +1 is applied

So 173 was the last male score, so the penalty is 174 for each man for anyone not fielding a full mens team, and 76 was the ladies penalty score

It can be quite crippling to a team, but it is an encouragement to field a full team

Sleepy Bear

13/12/2011 at 08:42

Morning!

Ahhhhh - yes that makes sense - ouch though!

Maybe we should get extra points if the whole team is made up of vets - our Ladies' one is at the moment! Ok I'll just have an extra piece of cake instead!

Stevie G .

13/12/2011 at 08:51

Sleepy, just be grateful Matt counted for your men, if you know what I mean

I think it's definitely a sign the standard has gone up a fair bit though, when Marlow have a 1st, 16th, and 20something and still only come 7th! In my days of representing Marlow we generally came 7th or 8th most weeks, and that certainly didn't involved 3 finishers in the top 30!

We were inched down into 2nd for the men, our last guy came 31st, this is what happens when you don't bring all your faster types. However, Datchet had a few out too, so it's going to be pretty nip and tuck!

Edited: 13/12/2011 at 08:53

Stevie G .

13/12/2011 at 10:23

just for a bit of info on the Reading course, last year I did the Handy Cross and Reading courses 1 second different in time.

But Reading is 1/2mile further in distance

Beware Of The Fish

13/12/2011 at 10:23

Black Park course record is 15:31.

I think the male teams are going to be pretty close for the rest of the season, and it could get more interesting if Reading get their A team out as well as they definitely seem a bit below their previous levels this year. It might depend how many people teams lose to marathon training as the season progresses. The ladies will be another story however - we simply don't have the depth that Sandhurst, Reading & BFR have, so if our top few don't run then we'll finish well down.

Sleepy Bear

13/12/2011 at 10:32

Thanks for the info SG and BOTF.

Ben's 5k PB is 15:17 but he really doesn't run that many of them. Like you say tho it's down to the day and the course. He read the thread last night and said he quite fancied giving it a go. Not sure when we'll fit it in but we'll make sure we try to do so before we go.

What's this hill like at Reading anyone? Long, short, steep, draggy?

Someone did say that the field is much smaller by the end of the season - chance to sneak a few extra points for me then LOL

Stevie G .

13/12/2011 at 10:56

The field completely shrinks near the end Sleepy... Let's put it this way, I came 7th at Handy Cross a couple of years ago, when much less fit, as it was either the last or one before last, and only 166 raced. (compared to 248 finishers sunday)

I think the last race of last series was even sillier, as half of the top 50 didn't turn up!

Some years the last xc has been as late as last week Feb or even March 1st, so by then you're really cutting into road season. I know they were conscious to avoid going past the first local road races this year, so the last race this year is 5th Feb.

Stevie G .

13/12/2011 at 10:57

hill wise, nothing too majoy at Reading, only the last 200metres where you have to go up the hill you start on! I normally find it's a good chance to steal a place or 2 if you want it enough, or more importantly know it's coming where others don't!

Sprint for the line

13/12/2011 at 11:10

To be honest, our depth of ladies ends at Annie mostly - our next finisher was 90th or so. If Annie doesn't turn up we are screwed.

We were missing our very fastest runners, we have 3 top 20 runners who weren't there, and our male depth is sadly so shallow that a few people out take us down to fifth. We pack our rest in well in the top 60, but you need a single figure score or at least a top 15 to take that chunk out of the score.

Beware Of The Fish

13/12/2011 at 11:12

Metros was always the last race of the season, but it was moved to the first this year because so few people were turning up. The last 2 years they had 120 & 160 - this year 260.

Beware Of The Fish

13/12/2011 at 11:19

Sprint for the line wrote (see)

To be honest, our depth of ladies ends at Annie mostly - our next finisher was 90th or so. If Annie doesn't turn up we are screwed.

Yes, but remember that the points the ladies score are purely based on ladies positions, hence why you won the ladies events as after Annie you had Elaine Armour in 7th and Lorayn Hockin in 13th. By comparison our last ladies scorer on Sunday is going to be around 50th as they currently have a guest runner listed as part of our team.

Sprint for the line

13/12/2011 at 11:42

I always assumed that Datchet had great depth in the women - seemed too be a lady-fest at the Woodland 5 champ race you lot have

Stevie G .

13/12/2011 at 12:09

was definitely a lack of young hotties at sunday's race. Hopefully the elss gruesome Reading course will help on that level

Sleepy Bear

13/12/2011 at 13:37

You might want to take that back SG - or I'm telling!!!

It's just great from my point of view that there are as many ladies as there are - we were lucky to muster 30 up north! And we had to do a shorter course and start before the men. My only goal used to be to finish before Ben caught me! Always felt really bad for the last few wifeys who didn't!

Glad season ends on 5th Feb - am gonna try and shoehorn everything in if I can - there must be a way!

Stevie G .

13/12/2011 at 13:56

outside of Marlow's ladies of course