After the damp weather in the week, the cross-country course at Martlesham Heath was decidedly muddy (both sloppy and sticky mud!) on Sunday morning for the latest race in the 53-12 XC League. Ipswich Jaffa had changed the course to include more hills, which also made it longer than usual. Witham Running Club had a good turnout and with both the men’s and ladies’ teams topping their leagues it was a good result for new captains Marc Underwood and Claire Gordon.

Brigid Wallen (12th) and Wendy Martin (16th) scored the points for the ladies team, while the other ladies finished well and denied points to the other clubs in Pool B. New captain Claire Gordon was 19th, Liz Stuckey was 23rd, Maggie Crathern finished 44th, Jane Noble (62nd) and Tracey Denby (63rd) ran together for most of the course, while Lynne Williams came home in 66th place in her very first adventure cross country.

The first four men home secured first place in Pool B – James Farren led the boys home in 17th place with 16 year-old Tom Beard gave the rest of the seniors a ran for their money and finished in 47th place. New men’s captain Marc Underdown (58th) made sure he finished in a scoring position and Tony Wallen completed the set in 64th place. The rest of the men’s team turned in a sterling performance. Lee Pembroke was 86th, Mark Williams 98th, Shawn Beckerleg 118th, Paul Hedger 122nd, new Vice Chairman Colin Short finished 128th, Shawn’s dad Dave Beckerleg was 138th, Dave Payne one place behind in 139th and Peter Holm was 149th.

With such a good showing by both the men’s and ladies’ team, the club kept their position at the top of Pool B and even extended their lead.

There were a record 14 Witham Running Club juniors out as well as the seniors. Tom Brown had a brilliant race and finishedeigth overall (his highest race place ever) and also took first place in the Under 11 boys’ category. Courtney Gordon had raced on Saturday but still had enough energy left to come 33rd and second in the Under 11 girls’ group. Trying to emulate father James, Joel Farren was a good 16th while in the Stevenson family battle honours went to Juliet, who finished in 19th place, one position in front of her brother George (20th). Sisters Rebecca and Chloe Molonly had their first run for Witham Running Club, Rebecca finished 49th, just ahead of Chloe who was 53rd. Alex Waring is a veteran of the cross country scene and finished 39th. Charlie Brown had a good run to finish 41st, determined Jack Dawson was 55th, young Lois Gordon was 58th, Georgina Haskey-Jones (59th) had her best finish yet while young Ellie Beckerleg may have finished last but did so with a big smile and a sense of achievement. With the final race in two weeks time the juniors are up to third place in their league.

Many thanks to all the club supporters around the course, new Chairman Stewart Waller, Stuart Mills, Lynne Lewis, Phil and the Gordon family.