Essex Cross Country League, Hockley Woods, 9 October 2004  

The Cross Country Season got off to a sunny start with good turnouts in the younger age groups, in the opening Essex Cross Country League fixture at Hockley Woods (Greensward College) on Saturday.

The only win of the day came in the senior women's event, which saw the welcome return to action of club captain Debbie Sullivan, now Appleton after her recent marriage. After a cautious start Debbie soon made her way to the front, where she remained to win the race comfortably. Lesley Felton came home in 19^th place, a little disappointed at finishing behind a rival while fellow veteran Linda Smith turned the tables on Ellie Mole, beating her by six places as she came in 32^nd place to Ellie’s 38^th. Ruth O'Sullivan completed the quintet of runners in a creditable 48^th place. The team positions are not known at the time of writing.

The Under 15 Boys set out to dominate this age group fielding 13 runners. A strong Havering quartet was soon challenging James Shane of Basildon, one of the top U15s in the UK at the front. Although not quiet able to catch James at the finish Matt Watkins was a very impressive 2nd. Matt Bloy just held off Bradley Tungatt for an impressive 4th in his first race in this age group, with Bradley an excellent 5th. Next home for Havering was Steve Maclachlan in 9th who nearly lost to his brother Chris who in the early stages went with the leader before failing back to 12th, which is probably one of his best races so far. The four man A-team ran out impressive winners with 20 points. Grant Twist followed closely in 13th, while Daniel Winters and Joe Webster had solid runs in 20th and 25th respectively. Danny Walker making a comeback finished 31st with newcomers Alex Trew, 37th, Adam Hazelden 38th, Jack Hirom 41st and Shane Sullivan 48th. 

There was also a strong showing from the Under 15 girls who finished the day in second place in their competition behind the Chelmsford team. The team finished in close order as Clare Robinson led the team home in an impressive 6th place, with Hayley Thomas hard on her heels in 7th. Jade Edwards run a superb race to finish in 9th place closely followed by Ingrid Deane who completed the scoring foursome in 11th. Also in action in this age group were Rachael Newman, Charlotte Humphreys and Michaela Roberts who came through in 16th, 17th and 20th places respectively.

The Under 13 Boys made a solid start to the season with a third place finish behind the Chelmsford squad, being led home by Simon Brown whose seventh place finish confirmed he has recovered from his recent knee injury. Simon just held off the improving Daniel Shanney who finished a close 8th, while next home was Daniel's twin Thomas who has also made a good start to the season, in 12th place. Chris Sullivan making his debut finishing 26th to complete the scoring quartet. 

There was a great opening result for the inexperienced under 13 girls who finished 2nd in the team event. This was a tremendous start as some of these girls were making their debuts and were quite nervous on the starting line. Rebecca Luck led the team home in 5th place followed by Georgia Davies in 9th. Chloe Jackson and Eleanor Bounds came through in 13th and 15th respectively, while good support came from Alex Edwards, who finished in 24th and Michelle Lovell in 29th. 

Both under 17 teams were heavily depleted. The Under 17 girls team started with just three runners competing with Vicky Smith finishing in 4th place after coming back from injury and likewise for Lauren Clark who finished 11th. Sadly Charlotte Watkins failed to finish after a fall in the early stage. The Under 17 Men saw just one entrant with Ashley Reece being the sole runner from Havering. Although running well in his first Cross Country run since January he found the going tough against the top Southend runners finishing a solid 5th.

Results  

Under 13 Girls:

5th - Rebecca Luck; 9th Georgia Davis 16:30; 13th Chloe Jackson; 15th Eleanor Bounds (Team - 2nd - HMAC - 42 pts)  24th Alex Edwards; 29th Michelle Lovell

Under 15 Girls:

6th - Clare Robinson; 7th- Hayley Thomas; 9th - Jade Edwards; 11th Ingrid Deane (Team: 2nd - 33 points) 16th - Rachel Newman; 17th - Charlotte Humphreys; 20th Michaela Roberts

Under 17 Girls/ under 20 women:

4th - Vicky Smith; 11th - Lauren Clark 

Senior Women:

1st - Debbie Appleton (nee Sullivan); 19th - Lesley Felton; 32nd- Linda Smith; 38th - Ellie Mole; (Team ? - 90 pts)48th -Ruth O'Sullivan

Under 13 Boys:

7th - Simon Brown 12:45;  8th  – Daniel Shanney 12:51; 12th - Thomas Shanney 13:03; 26th - Chris Sullivan 14:17 (Team 3rd - 53 pts) 29th – Luke Jones 14:38; 40th - Jack Walden 15:05; 43rd - Steve Payne 15:31

Under 15 Boys:  

2nd - Matt Watkins 15:11; 4th - Matt Bloy 15:38; 5th -  Bradley Tungatt 15:41; 9th - Steve McLachlan 16:12;  (Team 1st - 20 points) 12th - Chris McLachlan 16:15; 13th  – Grant Twist 16:24;  20th - Daniel Winters 16:36; 25th - Joe Webster 17:02; 31st - Danny Walker 17:40; 37th - Alex Trew 18:03; 38th - Adam Hazelden 18:05; 41st - Jack Hirom 18:15; 48th - Shane Sullivan 20:02 

Under 17 Boys:

5th - Ashley Reece 22:25 

Senior Men:

19th - Rob Warner; 38th  – Graham Pritchard; 41st - Neil Collins; 48th- Chris Coates; 55th - Tony Collins; 58th - Gary Howard (V40)  (Team ?th - 195 points) 93rd - Mike Munson (V50); 102nd - Dennis Mole (V50)