The Stags Show True Grit at Hog Hill in the Chingford League
Tuesday evening proved to be an exercise in true grit for the Stags at Hog Hill, starting with the journey there and parking given the location is half way to Moscow; for Alex Shuker it proved further due to two mistakes on public transport necessitating a ‘warm up’ run to the start line almost as long as the race itself. Well done Alex! you take the prize for not giving up. The race itself takes true grit too given we have to ‘run’ up a steep hill, conveniently located close to the finish, three times; all the harder for those 16 Stags who had raced at the Standalone 10K on Sunday but the prize for commitment to the Team must go to Mark Glover who competed having raced a Marathon only two days earlier! Our wonderful numbers team of Di Godin and Geraldine Stapleton also demonstrated true grit in defending our safety pins from theft by the many less well-organised clubs.
On the night 37 Stags competed in spite of dire weather forecasts, the distance there and terrible transport links, which is fantastic and only goes to show the Team Spirit we have in abundance. We were lucky in terms of the weather since it didn’t rain while we were running which by Hog Hill standards makes it a perfect night for racing. There’s no question it’s a tough course and there are no PBs to be earned. It’s also very dark in parts which makes for an interesting experience but as a cycle track it’s perfect underfoot and you never feel nervous about tripping; it is after all one of the few places that Des Michael hasn’t fallen at in spite of 16 appearances there. It consists of one short loop and two longer loops;5K in total.
The very talented Ed Fraser led our men home having also done so two days earlier at the Standalone 10K. Fantastic! The outstanding Richard McCormick was, by a country mile, the first M60 finisher. Brilliant! As ever there were some great battles to the line between club members; Nick Scott and Scott Fraser was one such battle and Des Michael and the recovering Brian Lallaway was another. Great to have you back Brian. Matt Clark racing for the 4th time in just over three weeks had a great run too.
Jana Jilkova, after some time off ill, led our women home (and also provided great cakes) while our next four, Stephanie De’Ath, Agnes Jacobs, Laura Ng and Ann Phillips finished in very close order. Four of our six scorers had raced two days earlier which shows how committed they are. Shayna Godin and Anne Wood had great races too.
We had four Chingford League debutants; Chun and Laura Ng, Nehal Lavey-Khan and Alex Shuker and they all scored. It’s great to see our newer members embracing the competition so whole heartedly.
Given its location this was a difficult fixture for us as a relatively small club but our unrivalled Team Spirit and Commitment has ensured a great start for the team.