Hardened from the filthy conditions at Claygate 5 the previous Sunday 11 of us turned up at Nonsuch Park for the second leg of the Collingwood – Sutton – 26.2 RRC Mob Match in what can only be described as seriously rotten weather.  Even the drive over didn’t show any sign of the rain letting up and on arrival the sight of swimming pool sized puddles in the car park was enough to make you wish you’d stayed at home, which it appears many club members decided was the best option.

On reaching the back of the mansion house everyone present were huddled together under the trees or any other bit of shelter that presented itself but as everyone set of from the start even the rain couldn’t spoil what turned out to be an enjoyable run for everyone. The 4.6 (ish) mile course, starting from the mansion house lawn took the same route as the Nonsuch parkrun for the first mile and continued across an extremely water logged grass course for a further half a mile before entering the back of the mansion house for a further 2 laps.  Although not a hilly course the ground was very heavy under foot and soon started to take it toll on the legs, but despite this Jack Holland and Joe Chang finished in a top 10 position, 3rd and 10th respectively. James Thurston who is currently on fire, Moustafa Fawzy and Steve Ramek appeared to be having a battle between themselves with only 24 seconds between them and all running very quick on a tough course, having 5 runners in the top 20 is none to shabby and each of them ran some very impressive times, well done guys.

Early on in the race, Mr Dave (I’m only out for a jog) Wilson zoomed past me with Jonathon hot on his heels, but it appears that the months of living it up at University have taken their toll as try as he might Jon just couldn’t catch his old man in the battle of the Wilsons with Dave finishing over a minute ahead having enjoyed another outing for the club. What I find great is that even Dave going for a gentle run is still faster then most, how we miss having him pushing at the front of the field these days.

Further back, although I managed to gain an early lead on Kevin Furlong I couldn’t help but keep glancing over my shoulder thinking he’d be chasing me down any minute as I could see him not to far away. However about half way into the race a Collingwood runner appeared on my shoulder eager to overtake. I could see further up the field that others were battling for places and pushed hard so as not to let the side down. Thankfully having the trail shoes on made all the difference as in the final half a mile I finally managed to shake him off on the greasy surface only to be beaten in the final stretch by a Sutton lady who appeared to float by me with ease. 

Brining up the rear were Neil Sunderland and Binkie, both hardy all weather runners who you can always depend upon to give it their all no matter what the conditions. It’s good to see Neil enjoying the off road courses again, we hope to see him getting back for Cross Country this year and even better to see Binkie running round in the right direction.

All in all despite the conditions everyone appeared to enjoy the race but having the least amount of runners on the night didn’t help us to overturn the lead Collingwood held from the first leg. Despite coming last on the night however we did enough to hold onto second place ensuring Sutton remained third, not a bad result for our debut season for this event. Hopefully next year this will become a 3 leg event as we host an evening ourselves so maybe we can wrestle first place from Collingwood at the second attempt.

 

Position	Name	Time	Club
1	Neil Reissland	27:14	Collingwood AC
3	Jack Holland	28:27	26.2 RRC
10	Joe Chang	30:08	26.2 RRC
14	James Thurston	30:37	26.2 RRC
15	Moustafa Fawzy	30:55	26.2 RRC
16	Steve Ramek	31:01	26.2 RRC
31	Dave Wilson	34:44	26.2 RRC
33	Jonathon Wilson	36:04	26.2 RRC
38	Kevin Stone	37:07	26.2 RRC
42	Kevin Furlong	38:24	26.2 RRC
57	Neil Sunderland	46:09	26.2 RRC
64	Michael Bryant	52:50	26.2 RRC
66	Kate Knight	63:11	Collingwood AC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Results:

 

	First Leg	Second Leg	Total
Collingwood Ac	269	118	387
26.2 RRC	375	323	698
Sutton Runners	590	243	833