13/12/2009

Surrey XC League - Fixture 3

21 Chasers men turned up for the 3rd fixture which in itself was cool as this was more than any other team in the division. To top it off we won the fixture and extended our lead at the top of the division. Promotion and title chances looking good but we are 100 points or so ahead of 26.2 so it's not quite a done deal. Bring on the Feb fixture and hopefully we'll seal our place. Some great running and times from everyone, well done guys.

10 ladies also made the Richmond park fixture with quite a few new faces to xc. Well done ladies, life in the top division is a little harder but with a good last fixture I'm sure we'll stay up.

League Tables

20/11/2009

Justina's Ethiopian Report

I've just got back from 6 weeks training in Ethiopia.  My typical day involved getting up at 5.30am training, eating , sleeping then training again and in bed for 8.30pm.  Hard work but hopefully worth it to set me up for a hard cross country season!
 
On the second morning I went for a run in forest just down from Entoto.  I've found it's almost impossible to run alone in Ethiopia.  Within five minutes two lads ran past me calling "Nay, Nay" which means "Come, come" in Amharic.  So I joined them.  They were trying to ask me how long I wanted to run for- I was trying to think of the answer in Amharic when I tripped over a tree stump- the first of many falls in the forests!
 
Everywhere you run you get encouragement from "Bravo!", "Gobez!" (brilliant) "Ai zosh!" (be strong/chin up!) to the slightly strange " I appreciate you!"  It made me smile everyday.  It's just not the same on Wandsworth common unfortunately! After a few days acclimatization I moved up to Kotebe a suburb of Addis uphill from the city centre where loads of athletes live.  On "easier" days I would run in the forest above the camp where I was staying.  I made friends with an athlete called Abraham- who called called me his running sister.  He took me on a run one day that he said was Hailes favourite route.  It involved running uphill for about an hour and a half.  The views were beautiful at the top and I just about summoned the energy to jog back down.  Abraham then invited me for breakfast at his house which turned out to be a mud hut papered with the sports pages of an old Daily Telegraph.
 
Later in my stay I did the Great Ethiopian run.  Despite being at nearly 10,000 foot altitude the race started at a crazy pace- I went through the first k in 2.55 and at that point I was about 50th in the Womans race!  It was really hilly and I really appreciated the encouraging shouts of "Ai zosh!" from the sidelines.  After the race I was lucky enough to meet a few famous Ethiopian athletes including Haile Gebreselassie and Tirunesh Dibaba.  I also met Paula Radcliffe who had come over to start the race.  I had a fantastic trip with some amazing experiences and lots of hard training in the beautiful Ethiopian countryside surrounding Addis. 

14/11/2009

Surrey XC League - Fixture 2

Well done all Chasers who braved the rain, wind and cold. Nasty weekend! Ladies now lie 10th in Division 1 while the men kept hold of top spot in division 3.

Ladies:

30. Melissa Galea 25:48
44. Sarah Archer 26:29
94. Anna Hindle 29:33
100. Liz Dalton 30:06
118. Sandrine Gonnet 31:28
126. Anna Dawbin 32:09
128. Caitlin Cockerton 32:15
158. Julia Smachylo 38:29

Men:

08/11/2009

Leatherhead 10K

Full details, click here:

Chasers Anniversary

10/10/2009

Surrey XC League - Fixture 1

Ladies: It was an anxious day for our first year in Division 1 after getting promoted last year in our first year in cross country. New ladies captain Melissa Galea did a great job getting a strong team of 13 Chasers to the start line and wow what an amazing result, 2nd place out of 15 clubs! Chasers were lead home this time by Moana, a great run after being out injured for a lot of the summer. Sadly Moana is returning to NZ this week, good luck M we'll miss you.... Very strong runs from Lucie and Mel as they were the next two Chasers in, showing their recent hard work is really paying off. Full results below for the whole team, some really good runs throughout the team as you'll see. The 'B' team even finished 15th out of 38 overall teams. The team spirit was excellent, this league is very friendly and open to all Chasers no matter what your ability so lets hope we have even more at the next race. Well done girls.

Men: Newly promoted Chasers were looking for a good start in their quest to move up the leagues after debuting in Division 4 last year. Russell Thompson, also new to his XC captaincy role did really well to get 14 Chasers out for the first race of the season. The course was 8k over a dead flat green close to Heathrow which lead to a fast and furious race! Taking it completely in his stride was James Ellis, first XC race and 1st place! Well done mate. The rest of the team followed in style and the men managed a close victory in the opening fixture. Lets keep it up and get even more out next time. Great work, well done again.

League Table Click Here

09/08/2009

Belgrave 5K & FULL SURREY LEAGUE RESULTS

An amazing end to the Surrey League for the men's team. We really thought we had no chance of much before the race but here is how the day finished for the men:

Surrey Road League: Champions

Surrey 5K Road Championships: Champions

Belgrave Bolt Team Placing: 1st

Coming into the last fixture we needed a win just to stand a chance of equalling points with the Stragglers, hope other esults went our way and then who knows how a winner would be decided. Somehow we managed all of the above and as our points were calculated from the top 4 scores in 6 races it was down to the 5th best score. Lucky for Chasers we just beat the Stragglers on that occasion. Absolutely brilliant, well done everyone who ran over the season.

The ladies still managed a very impressive 3rd in the league, not quite the hights of the last two seasons but still really well done and maybe we can move up again next year.

Full Results Here

26/07/2009

Elmbridge 10K (Surrey Road League)

Nice work once again Chasers! Club record to James Ellis and the men's team pulled off a first place in the Race team event with top 6 scoring. In the league the men managed 3rd (top 3 only counting) and the ladies a really good second place.

29/06/2009

Dysart Dash 10K (Surrey Road League and Surrey 10K Champs)

I don't know what it is about Ranelagh events but they definitely know how to organise sunshine at every one of their events! The 10K was another scorcher. Even so 18 Chasers turned out to keep the pressure on the league and did very well considering. Speaking to most runners at the end I think times were a little down on what they were hoping for but even so the teams did very well.

In the ladies race both Ranelagh and the Stragglers brought very good teams to keep the pressure on at the top of the league. I think they are keen to regain the title we have taken away for the last 2 years! Chasers were very close to second but still managed a very respectable third in the Surrey Champs / League. Well done ladies, some really good performances from all of you and welcome to the newcomers too.

The men's team continued a very successful season. In the open race they were third but Belgrave's leading man doesn't qualify for Surrey so in the League and Champs we should be promoted to second behind a very strong Thames H&H side. A fantastic result ahead of key league Challengers Stragglers and Ranelagh. One more result like that and we are guaranteed improving drastically on any of our league performances to date and maybe even a top 2 position!

Full Chasers Results:

Photo by www.rowephoto.co.uk

14/06/2009

Gobi Desert March

Our very own ultra distance runner Riel Carol pulled of a legendary Chaser's performance as he came 2nd in the Gobi Desert March in an overall time of 27'54'24. To put this in perspective this was roughly 40 minutes faster than Dean Karnazes achieved on the same course.

Riel has a facebook page where you can follow his diary and race reports. He is still working on a few of the reports. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Riel-goes-to-the-Gobi-desert/112847385294#/pages/Riel-goes-to-the-Gobi-desert/112847385294?v=wall&viewas=0

Well done Riel!

Breakdown of stage results:

* day 1 (38 km): 04:17:30 finishing 2nd
* day 2 (40 km): 04:21:53 finishing 4th
* day 3 (40 km): 04:19:29 finishing 2nd
* day 4 (42 km): 05:21:33 finishing 3rd
* day 5 (78 km): 08:50:29 finishing 1st
* day 6 (10 km): 00:43:30 finishing 2nd

10/05/2009

Richmond Half Marathon (Surrey Road League and Surrey HM Champs)

Another hot summers day was scheduled for the half marathon but that didn't put off another great turnout of Chasers for the 2nd league fixture and half marathon champs.

Quite a few of the results were a little off usual target times but with many legs still sore from the marathon that was fair enough! still some great runs and a few pb's too.

After a few discussions with the organisers we’ve managed to get Chasers re-classified and the men’s team have been upgraded to bronze, so well done Nick Stevens, Graeme Buscke                                                 and Neil Aitken, hopefully they will get the county medals off South London :-). The ladies team, Moana Burt, Natalie Bennett and Jane Bass also finished a great 3^rd place. In the individual placings Moana Burt took a fantastic county silver medal and Neil Aitken a county bronze.

Well done everyone, aside from those results there were plenty of great results as Mike and Keith’s email mentioned.

The next league race is the Dorking 10, I know a few are away for that one including myself but the more the better! It would be to really focus on a good turnout at the Dysart Dash 10K.

In the league that leaves the Chaser’s Men still on top of the league by a single point and the Ladies second. Keep it up Chasers.

03/05/2009

Sutton 10K (Surrey Road League Fixture 1)

For the first 2 seasons the Chasers men have been used to taking a back seat when it comes to results in this league compared to our ladies, and although I'm sure the ladies will take their position back again soon it is the men's team who shone this weekend and took their first ever win in this league since we entered for the first time a few years ago. It was a close run thing with both the Stragglers and South London Harriers close behind.

The ladies were not far behind though as they came a very respectable 2nd. Our team was led home by one of our founders, Rachel Bentley, recently back from giving birth to little Fred Bentley. Well done, great to have you back in the team!

Chasers Results:

27/04/2009

London Marathon

Well done to all the Chasers that braved the heat! Some great results...

05/04/2009

Paris Marathon

A Chasers weekend away for the Paris Marathon, saw 48 people travelling on Eurostar in the 'official'
group, with 34 people entered & intending to race, with the rest keen on partying. Others made their own way with family & freinds, to take the total Chaser-count to above the 60 mark.

The usual feelings of apprehension & excitement were well to the fore as the group met at St Pancras
for coffee & chat at 7:30am on the day before the race.

The journey across was subject to some delay in the tunnel because of repair works, but with everyone keen to chat to their colleagues & take their minds off the race, no one really noticed. Paul Jagger organised a Grand National Sweepstake & some of the other passengers were keen to know who we were & what we were up to.

Paul, Anna H & Keith spent Saturday afternoon on an 11 mile run through the Southern suburbs, while others swam in the hotel pool, or just caught up on sleep after a very early start. Various different groups ate Pasta in the early evening & race tactics were honed while Wine was avoided at all costs. The resident Party-boys, Keith & Yohan hit the town until the early hours, intent on studying the cost of 'cheap' Champagne in all night clubs & the runners were off to their rooms by 10pm.

Most people were at Breakfast for about 6.15am & took Emma's frugal travel tip, by preparing baguette's filled with chicken, cheese & salad, which they then smuggled from the restaurant, ready for their post race meal. With prices as inflated as they currently are in Paris, this idea went down a storm. Andy O bought his own oats to make porridge after it worked so well for him last year in Edinburgh.

The start was a relatively quick hop on the metro & people made their way to the bag drop which was at the finish, only a few hundred metres from the start in the Champs-Elysee. The well documented lack of Loo's caused a few problems, especially for the girls, but after a while they mostly decided to do what the boys did & christen a few plants in the gardens adjacent. The weather was perfect. 10-12 degrees with sunshine.

Access to the bag drop area was a bit of a squeeze as it was only a small entrance gate, which doubled as an exit gate. By the time we made our way back after getting rid of our bags, the queues were even longer to get back out. It really wasn't too much of a problem, but already anxious athletes really could have done without the crush. The notorious traffic around the Arc de Triomphe stubbornly refused to give way to 35000 runners & we ran the gauntlet towards the start.

A slightly downhill start got everyone off exactly on time & you were able to run without much obstruction once you crossed the start line, although the usual, over excited, people did push their way through as we headed for the Louvre & you had be aware of people clipping your heels for the first couple of miles at least. The route took us through beautiful areas of the City with the fabulous buildings rising on both sides providing good shade from the sun if you could negotiate the crowds to get to the right side of the road.

Past 10k & the route went through one of the two lovely parks at either end of the route. The sun was still shining & although it was heating up somewhat, it was still very pleasant to run in. There were percussion & jazz bands all around the course & lots of people with 'loud hailers' were shouting for their club mates. After the park, you came back into the city just after half way to a couple of long gradual downhill stretches where you needed to be careful about getting carried away with the pace. Through more of the centre of the city & out to the banks of the Seine where we took the lower level alongside the river, with Notre Dame in the background & some beautiful views. The crowds were similar to London from this point onwards & things got complicated a bit by having the route go through several underpasses including 'that one', with downhill entrances & uphill exits.

At about 30k, you could stop & have your legs massaged if you felt the need, but stopping at that point was only 'on' if you were in real trouble.

Loads of people knew the Chasers colours along this part of the route & with our names printed on our numbers people could encourage you with a kind word or two.  The 'terrible two', who had just surfaced from their beds after a 5am return to the hotel, had made it to the 32k mark to shout encouragement alongside various others.

On by the river & into the final part of the course in Bois de Boulogne, with an out & back loop, before finally getting back into the City for the final part of the route into the finish line.

One or two Chasers gave absolutely everything they had on the course & were treated in the medical tents, but none were seriously ill.  Most of us managed to meet-up at the designated meeting point for a rest on the grass, a chat about how the race unfolded, much needed fluid replacement & commiserations for those who had not, 'got it right', on the day.

The 'After-Party' started at about 6pm with a simple meal in a local bar & continued, hilariously though to midnight as the typically Parisian owner did nothing but complain about the English people who insisted on standing up while drinking & who wanted to get drinks from the Bar rather than be waited on at tables. The After-after-party, then went on at Andy O's room in the hotel & the After-after-after-Party graduated to a local gay-bar, where Gideon celebrated his great run with a set of moves seldom seen by the local populace at such a late hour. Pink berets were much in evidence & the Chasers reputation as party-kings ( or should that be queens ? ) was cemented. Breakfast was a subdued affair as you'd expect after that lot & I wont even mention the carnage on the Eurostar at the Bar, as weeks of alcohol abstinence was shattered.

Roll on next year for the 'alternative to London' Marathon trip & yet more thanks to Andy O for his great organisation & Phil Diamond / Anna Dawbin for assisting with local knowledge & bar bookings.

28/03/2009

Home Countries International Cross Country 6km - Senior Women

Justina Heslop made a fantastic debut in extremely windy conditions in Wales as the England team completely dominated the running with all four runners taking the top 4 spots.

Justina came 3rd to take her first international podium at the first time of trying.

Top 10 Results Below:

08/03/2009

Thames Riverside 20

Despite a last minute closure of part of the Thames Towpath the Chasers and in paticular Andy Ormesher (Event Director) successfully delivered a really fun event for over 100 runners. We were blessed with lovely weather and just about everything went as smooth as possible. For a free event I think the competitors from many local clubs including Serpentine, West 4, Barnes Runners, Hercules Wimbledon, Dulwich etc were very surprised with the organisation of the event and nice touches such as chip timing, pacers, Gatorade and probably the most popular were the mixture of free home baked cakes at the end.

The feedback from runners has been incredible, thank you to all the local clubs for your support and we really look forward to hosting this event again in 2010.

Full run results can be found here.

March 2009

Two top class runs from Justina Heslop and Club Records broken again

Two fantastic runs from Justina, firstly coming 11th in the Inter Counties Cross Country race which was also the World Cross Country qualifiers. A fantastic field where Justina was one of the front runners for a large part of the race rubbing shoulders with Steph Twell, the inevitable winner. Justina was first Surrey team member home too and Surrey came 5th overall.

Secondly Justina ran in the Trafford 10k on the 15th March and ran a fantastic 34'22, smashing her own club 10k record.

The mens 10k record took a similar tumbling a few weeks before when Neil Aitken finished third in the Valentine's 10k with a time of 33'49.

28/02/2009

LADIES WIN XC LEAGUE DIVISION 2 WITH EASE

Many teams struggled to get full sides out in this rescheduled final cross country fixture, but that didn't stop the Chasers still getting six runners to the start line and just like the men, winning their third match out of four. In a league of 22 different clubs that's pretty impressive for our debut year. Well done ladies.

Final Ladies and Mens League Tables can be viewed here.

21/02/2009

NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

After only just returning from a month’s altitude training in Ethiopia, Justina Heslop was looking for a good performance in the 'National' at a muddy Parliament Hill this weekend.

Beforehand, Justina expressed her confidence, her intention to get up with the leaders & to attempt to get close to the position she achieved in the South of England Championships in January. Lining up with Justina were fellow Chasers, Catherine Dulla & Fiona Love. Because of the complex regulations surrounding athletes who change their clubs, neither were able to run in Chasers colours & ran instead for their old clubs, Westbury & Guildford respectively. Fiona who has been training at the front of the Chasers Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Sunday groups, was happy to see the sunshine on the day, but realistic about how difficult the Parliament Hill ( the classic English cross country ) course was going to be. Track regular Catherine was also in good spirits before race, enjoying the event and the slightly daunting prospect of the task ahead.

The first half mile of the course is uphill on slippery mud, but Justina was right up there in the leading group as they reached the first turning at the top of that hill. Going into the toughest part of the lap where the mud is ankle deep & the hills come one after the other with little recovery time, our girl was feeling good & running with British Steeplechase international Hattie Dean.

As they started the long gradual descent down to end of the first lap, Euroepan Under 23 silver medallist, Sarah Tunstall had a 20 metre lead & chasing hard were Hattie Dean & Justina, with a 10 metre gap to the chasing bunch of 6 others.

During that second lap, the mud, the hills & the aftermath of the hard work in Africa began to take its toll & Justina, though still looking pretty strong, began to be caught by the chasing group as Hattie Dean caught the leader & began to pull away to eventual victory.

As the leaders streamed down the final hill into the soggy finishing straight, Justina had held on for 7th place & was really gunning for the girl in front of her, but was just unable to catch her in time. A top ten place in the National is a great achievement & her proud parents were down from the North East too see it first hand.

Afterwards, having given just about everything she could possibly give, she said "On the first lap I was feeling really good & was used to the rough ground, after training on rutted riverbeds in Africa, so my knee lift was good. I cant ever remember feeling this wobbly after a race before. I really did give it everything."

Behind Justina, Catherine finished inside the top 100, an achievement in itself & Fiona finished just inside the top 200 in a really top class field. The Chasers didn’t put teams in this event this year as the decision was to focus on the league. If there is enough interest next time round we’ll make sure we are there.

07/02/2009

SURREY MEN'S LEAGUE CROSS SOUNTRY FIXTURE 4

Chasers Men cruised to a 3rd win in 4 fixtures (only the first fixture denying them a complete clean sweep) and an easy league win.

This victory in the final fixture of the cross country league season seals the Chasers promotion to division 3 at the first time of trying.

The final fixture had everything you could hope for in a cross country, mud, huge puddles, hills, woods and plenty of slush form the heavy snow earlier in the week. 18 Chasers made it out to Wimbledon Common which is a great turnout for the final fixture. Full results below but again the were great runs throughout the squad. Well done & maybe we can get promotion 2 years in a row! Thanks.

See here for League Tables

10/01/2009

On the icy hill tops of Coulsdon and fresh from the Christmas break a Ladies team which was somewhat depleted in numbers due to the holidays and the nasty bought of colds still turned up determined to maintain their fine form from the first two league fixtures. The team was just 7 and had a mixture of regular Chasers and some newer Chasers like Lucie, Olivia and Kim who are quickly becoming key regulars in the XC team. However this time it was the turn of Lucy Boyd to step up and after some heavy training she ran fantastically to lead the Chasers in and place 5^th in Division 2. Not far behind in 6^th place was another fine run from Lucie Custance still fresh from the fantastic performance last week in the Surrey Champs and taking away a team silver medal. Olivia was next in 14^th place, another solid performance and much happier this time round after suffering last week after her Asthma inhaler ran out! Kim Scarfe was next after her debut in the 2^nd league fixture, she was followed by Sandrine who had another strong run and was our 5^th scorer. Louise Ellis and Emma Swan were just behind and ran very well. A great result then as they still comfortably won the 3^rd League fixture and further extended their lead at the top of division 2. With just one fixture left surely we are in sights of our first ever Cross Country league title? Well done.

As the ladies team suffered a little in numbers the men’s did the opposite as New Year’s resolutions must of kicked in as we had a record attendance for the 3^rd XC fixture. This time round we had 20 runners and the strength and depth of the squad really showed as we powered our way ahead for the second time to a winning fixture and cementing ourselves at the top of division 4. Great turnout lads, well done. Although we run with division 3 it was hard to tell exactly how well we had done but we were confident of many high place finishes. The results didn’t  disappoint as our finishers place 10 in the top 17, maybe a division record?? Some positions were slightly reversed from last weekend where many of the same runners competed in the Surrey champs. Neil Aitken, Matt Ward and Nick Stevens were first three in running very strongly and closely followed by Graeme Buscke                     and Jack Cartwright. I won’t name the whole list as there we so many and the full results are below but the finishing positions and strength in numbers tell the whole story. A great weekends racing from the Chasers once again.

Both teams now need to finish the league in true style. Just one fixture left on the 7^th Feb. Put the date in the diary and lets complete a great debut season.

Neil 

03/01/2009

SURREY CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Since the early 1990's, when it was moved from its traditional date in early December, the first weekend of the new year has been reserved for the County Cross Country Championships in almost every county in England. This event is part of a National heirarchy of events which includes the Regional Championships ( Southern in our case ), the Inter Counties Championships for the best racers from each county & culminating in the National Championships, which is open to all affiliated clubs & at 9 miles, is the ultimate test for cross country runners in England. The County Championships themselves are pretty much as old as Cross Country running itself. Fitting therefore, that in 2009 the winners of the Surrey Mens event, were the Thames Hare & Hounds club, which is established in history as the originator of organised cross country running both in UK & all over the world, before the turn of the 19th century.

With the freezing weather over the Christmas holiday period, it was no surprise to find that the ground was bone hard in many places & the usually thick, smelly mud of Lloyd Park, Croydon was reduced to hard rutted ground, with a tricky, slippery surface. You certainly would not have wanted to fall over on any part of the course as it would have resulted in some nasty bruises.

The Ladies were first on the course for the 8k race, with Justina Heslop right at the front as they ascended the first hill, with the two Aldershot girls, Partridge & Adams in tow & Charlotte Bryson of Belgrave hanging on in 4th 

Newcomer Catherine Dulla was right up in the top 10, using her British Military Fitness strength, as was Olivia Chevenix also in her first Chasers race, chased hard by Moana Burt with her usual steady start. Lucy Custance was close behind as yet another first time Chasers racer, to complete the scoring team all in the top 20 or so. Nat Bennet was chasing hard, her recent good form being continued & Sandrine Gonnet, Kelly Nugent & Lou Ellis attacking the hill hard, in the middle of the field. This was definitely going to be the Chasers best ever club finish to a ladies Cross Country race.

Justina still led the group of 3 at the end of the lap, with Bryson finding it tough 25 metres back. Catherine was still right up there in the top 15 or so, with Moana chasing hard, passing people all the time as her NZ mountain running speed & strength began to tell. Lucy had passed Olivia & our team were looking good for a Championship medal each.

As the leaders came storming into the finishing straight, Lily Partridge from Aldershot had pulled away from Justina to take the title in what is, I think, her first year as a 'Senior', having won international races & been 3rd at the inter counties as an under 20 runner. So no shame in Justina being beaten by her at all.