Nopesport

The 2nd race of the UK Cup and 3rd race of the Future Champions Cup took place in the fast and furious Sherwood Pines. Conditions on the day were a bit chilly, though there was no wind, and the skies were clear – the only dilemma for runners was weather to go for the fashionable short-sleeve mesh top or the full on winter survival gear.

With the entry list full by the entries closing date, there was always going to be a large amount of following involved on both the prologue and the chase. The prologue had a seeded block in the middle of the start times, so the faster runners weren’t going to get a big advantage from the tracks made in the particularly brambly first race as there weren't a large amount of people in front of them. A tricky first control in densely packed young fir trees caused a few of the top runners to stumble at the first hurdle, with large mistakes from class athletes, with more than a minute lost for Roger Goddard, David Sprot, David Peel, Ian Nixon, Murray Strain, Ed Catmur, Neil Northrop, Andy Middleditch, Stewart Caithness and Rob Little in the men, and Hannah Wooton, Helen Winskill, Rachael Elder, Aislinn Austin, Jenny James, Christine Currie and Alice Bedwell in the women’s. Many of the leading runners in the race also lost time on this tricky first control. After this, the next few controls were run through more runnable woodland, and those people who had been caught up on the first leg found it difficult to pull away from the packs which had developed. A common leg on the Men’s and Women’s course (leg 7-8 on men’s course – see map in gallery section) involved the first major route choice of whether to crash through the undergrowth or head the long way round. The best times were achieved by heading straight, “NO PAIN” through the young plantations picking up the small path to the East of the line. A few more controls of fast, easily navigable legs were followed by a number of controls involving accurate bearings through the low visibility forest. #13 on the Men’s course claimed a number of the top runners, including winner Matt Crane, Andy Etherden, Matt Speake, Swedish international Mats Troeng, Mark Bown and Oleg Chepelin. A number of people also lost time on the final control, showing that you need to concentrate all the way to the end. The all important run-in was won by Allan Bogle (29 seconds) and Sarah Rollins join with Jenny Whitehead (32 seconds).

The 5.8km Men’s prologue was won by Matt Crane in 33:10, who carried a 44 second head-start over Allan Bogle, 31 seconds in front of one of the pre-season favourites for the UK Cup title Oli Johnson.

The 4.3km Women’s prologue was won by Laura Daniel, just out of the junior ranks in 30:13, with Claire Ward and Jenny Whitehead posting identical times 59 seconds behind the leader.

The first stage had managed to split the field up a bit before the craziness of the ‘chasing spring’ set in. Much banter set in between the races, sharing of energy-giving food, cursing of brambles and stupid mistakes made. Pretty soon, though the sun shone in the open finish area and it was time for the leading women to set off. A reasonably sized group had gathered for the off, including the mighty megaphone ensuring full banter was heard throughout the forest as one of the most exciting races of the year started to unveil. A radio control half way round the women’s course revealed to everyone how Daniel had been caught and passed by Ward, with Whitehead having also caught the leader. The final section of both the Men’s and Women’s course had been planned for optimum spectator friendliness, with a 300 metre control pick round the edge of an open area. Ward came in clear winner, though it was not long before Daniel and Whitehead came into sight at the same time, neck and neck, sprinting through the final few controls. It looked as if Whitehead had managed to overtake the first race winner, but with a final sprint to the last control, Daniel ensured that her presence in W21 will be felt by all. The next group of runners to come through included sprint race specialist Sarah Rollins, showing her speed by finishing 8 seconds in front of Wooton, with leading junior Mhairi Mackenzie in 6th place, and fastest time of the day from Pippa Whitehouse in 7th (a time of 19:25 for 3.3km! – Pippa also received a prize from the nopesport team for being the leading non-GB squad athlete, well done). The race was still on for all but the leading Future Champions Cup runners, and it was a short space of time before the rest of the juniors started pouring into the finish. Noemi Cerny, Swiss junior international based at present in Ilkley led home a group 8 runners to take 2nd place in W20, Lizzie Adams took the leading place in W18 after admitting that starting 12 seconds behind her coach Christine Currie had certainly helped her gain 6 places during the race! Becky Kingdon came in 17th place to take the 4th junior slot, though she couldn’t outsprint Toni O’Donovan who overtook the most number of places during the race, 10 people being unable to keep up with her pace. 2nd W18 spot went to Lucy Jepson with Helen Gardner taking the 3rd W18 place.

After the excitement of the Women’s race it was time for the leading men to set off. The top 10 were sparsely spread out but after that there were many runners setting off in close proximity, so it was always going to be a case of follow-my-leader. Bogle had caught Crane by the half-way stage and the pair of them were never caught. Coming into view of the finish Bogle was slightly in-front, and an extremely fast finish round the final 3 controls (including 2 fastest splits) gave Bogle his first ever UK Cup victory. The next group to come in was headed by Troeng, who posted the fastest time of the day (23:30 for 5.2km!) to overtake 8 of Britain’s top runners. Speake just missed out on 3rd place, though a fine 4th place for this first year M21, beating Johnson and Etherden in 5th and 6th place respectively. A couple of minutes and a couple of runners later and the first huge group came streaming into the finish. This group had been swapping places throughout the whole race, but it was another fresher M21, Murray Strain who led the pack home having overtaking 19 athletes to jump from 28th to 9th place and in doing so achieving the 2nd fastest time of the race. Less than a minute split the next 15 runners, including the leading 2 juniors – Dan Halliday and Colin Olivant, 1st and 2nd place in the M20 Future Champions Cup. The next large group to come home was fronted by SPOOK old boy Mark Hayman, showing that age doesn’t affect your speed at all as he beat home 3rd place M20 Chris Sellens, and the leading 2 M18’s – Rhodri Buffett (who is actually still an M16 so a very impressive performance from the Welsh youngster) and Oleg Chepelin. Andy Llewellyn came back in 45th place to take the 3rd M18 Future Champions Cup spot. Notable performances lower down the field come from Andy Middleditch and Phil Winskill, both good fell runners who hauled the ranks back in, overtaking nearly 30 runners between them!

Congratulations to Allan Bogle and Claire Ward (UK Cup winners), Dan Halliday and Mhairi Mackenzie (M/W20 Future Champions Cup winners), and Rhodri Buffett and Lizzie Adams (M/W18 Future Champions Cup winners).