Sunday January 9th
Woodcote 10K
| Joe Godwood | 32.42 | 1st Man |
| Matt Lock | 34.38 | 3rd Man |
| Chris Mulcahy | 41.25 | |
| Tony Lock | 42.10 | |
| Ben Goodwood | 43.33 | |
| Mark Crosby | 47.09 | |
| Margaret Mason | 47.27 | 3rd LV50 |
| Simon Arnold | 49.50 | |
| Kirsty Webb | 50.38 | |
| John Green | 55.06 | |
| Richard Redford | 58.23 |
Having seen on the Spond XC cancellation chat that Mark Crosby had suggested signing up for the race and that it was a league qualifying event, I quickly filled the form out and paid my entrance fee (I didn’t bother to look at the small print about the course, I just wanted to get a place before all the other disappointed Oxfordshire XC runners swamped the event with last minute entries). Knowing what I know now, having ran (or should I say endured) the race, I will ensure that forever more, I follow the age old adage of Caveat Emptor.
Anyway, the 7am Sunday alarm went off and following a decent sized bowl of porridge, I set off early as parking was on a first come first served basis. I arrived at the school, where I found a really well set up and friendly operation parking us runners. The toilets were clean and there were enough so as not to cause long queues. This was a good start.
And so on to the start line we went, with 328 other runners. And following some start line banter with some of the other Witney Road Runners (Mark, Matt, Kirsty and John) it turned out that John (Green) had done the race before, though he was a little coy when asked about the hills. Tony said it’d been so long since he’d ran it that he couldn’t really remember, but it was definitely tough and hilly, turns out they were probably both just being polite and not wishing to frighten me. The course was an absolute brute. The mainly downhill first 5k was fast (as per usual I stupidly went out quick, not as quick as young Joe, who told us he’d done the first 5k in just over 15 minutes..) but nothing could prepare you for the final 5k, it was Woodcote’s version of the Cotswold Classic’s Hillzakilla. The marshals were really good, cheering every runner on, whether calling their bib number or their club, it was a great atmosphere. I must confess to having a touch of de ja vu at one stage as the course shares a small section with the neighbouring Goring 10k, though if I were to compare the two, I’d say Woodcote was tougher than Goring. In Tony’s words at the end, that final hill was just continuous with just no let up. Having finally got up that last said hill, I was pleased to see that I’d finished inside 50 minutes (by 10 seconds) and had beaten my Goring time from last year also.
Congratulations to Joe on winning and also to Matt Lock for coming 3rd. How they ended up with almost 10k PB’s on a brutish course like that I’ll never know, I guess it may be something to do with age, either way, I take my cap off and bow to them both – what an achievement, well done guys.
Simon Arnold
Saturday January 8th
parkrun
This week Witney Roadrunners were represented at Newbury, Abingdon, Colney Lane, Buckingham, Harcourt Hill, Bicester, Cirencester, Wendover Woods, Chipping Norton School & Grove Fields.
Notable Results –
| Frankie Tyrell | 1st F @ Harcourt Hill | |
| Ellie Blake | 2nd F @ Harcourt Hill | |
| Sam Upton | 1st @ Chippy | |
| Sally Howard | 1st F @ Grove Fields |
Sunday January 2nd
7-Sins
| Derek Bond | 1.17.18 | 11th M40-49 |
| Jenny Moore | 1.18.13 | 1st F40-49 |
| Anne Rouget | 1.33.52 | 6th F50-59 |
Saturday January 1st
parkrun
This week Witney Roadrunners were represented at Banbury, Oxford, Perth, Medina I.O.W., Telford, Stormont, Stretford, Bicester, Street, Swanley & Witney.
Notable Results –
| Lisa Kay | 2nd F @ Telford | |
| Anne McIlveen | 2nd F @ Stormont | |
| Joe Godwood | 2nd @ Stretford | |
| Anna Scrivens | 1st F @ Witney | |
| Sally Howard | 2nd F @ Witney | |
| Sam Upton | 1st @ Witney | |
| Matt Lock | 3rd @ Witney | |
| Thomas Henderson | 3rd @ Street |