Ellis Trophy: 4 December 2010

 Men and women:  Separate Other races:   

All runners

Pos arrow Name arrow Time arrow Cat arrow Club arrow Pace arrow
1 1 Nicholas Torry 30:36 SM Serpentine 5:33
2 2 Richard Phillips 30:55 V35 Serpentine 5:36
3 3 Jeff Cunningham 31:34 SM Serpentine 5:43
4 4 Eric Phillips 31:48 SM Serpentine 5:46
5 5 Andrew Reeves 31:55 V40 Serpentine 5:47
6 6 Jolyon Attwooll 32:13 V35 Serpentine 5:50
7 7 Pau Herrero 32:17 SM Serpentine 5:51
8 8 Simon Barrett 32:54 V35 Serpentine 5:58
9 9 Steven Evans 32:59 V35 Serpentine 5:59
10 10 Neil Donovan 33:15 SM Serpentine 6:01
11 11 Ebrima Noble 33:28 V40 Serpentine 6:04
12 12 Joe Thompson 33:43 V35 Serpentine 6:07
13 13 Kevin Darcy 34:37 SM Serpentine 6:16
14 14 Gavin Edmonds 35:05 V35 Serpentine 6:21
15 15 Jaran Finn 35:24 V35 Croydon Harriers 6:25
16 16 James Edgar 35:55 SM Serpentine 6:30
17 17 Richard Taylor 36:19 SM Serpentine 6:35
18 18 Andrew Davies 36:22 V35 Serpentine 6:35
19 19 Brent Plump 36:25 SM Serpentine 6:36
20 20 Stephen Laverty 36:58 V35 Serpentine 6:42
21 21 Bradley Cobb 37:13 V50 Serpentine 6:45
22 22 Raoul Mansukhani 37:34 V35 Serpentine 6:48
23 23 Stuart Webber 37:38 SM Serpentine 6:49
24 24 Darren Over 38:31 V35 Serpentine 6:59
25 25 Alex Malzer 38:32 V40 Serpentine 6:59
26 26 Paul Fromme 38:51 V35 Serpentine 7:02
27 27 Jacob Miller 39:19 SM Serpentine 7:07
28 28 Sarah Edmunds 39:30 FV35 Serpentine 7:09
29 29 Jeremy Milne 40:06 V40 Serpentine 7:16
30 30 Dave Morgan 40:30 SM Serpentine 7:20
31 31 Jean-Luc Hoez 40:43 V50 Serpentine 7:23
32 32 Ian Hodge 40:52 V45 Serpentine 7:24
33 33 Kiera Attwooll 40:54 SL Serpentine 7:25
34 34 Roderick Brown 41:47 SM Serpentine 7:34
35 35 Alistair Henderson 44:13 V45 Serpentine 8:01
36 36 Angus Searcy 47:29 V45 Serpentine 8:36

Race photos

Race photos are at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079652&id=1175430750&l=1c293e0081

Race conditions

Chilly, some slippery sections after snow.

Report

Venue, Richmond Park. Race distance, 5.55 miles.

Team results:-

TEAMS: (Scoring 10 a side)
1. Serpentine 71
2. Stragglers 201
3. Hercules/Wim. 255
4. Ranelagh 293

Full results on www.ranelagh-harriers.com/results2/101204m.html


An arctic build-up week notwithstanding, on Saturday 4 December, Serpentine cross country team travelled to Richmond Park in deepest, darkest SW for the John Ellis Cup. John Ellis is not a house-hold name: he seems to have run an old-school cobbler's shop down in Richmond for the best part of the last century where he resoled ice-skates and latterly also trainers. He didn't run himself but what with managing the footwear of most of the Ranelagh Harriers and regularly propping up the bar of the Dysart Arms he did eventually join that club where he was responsible for presenting a cup for an inter-club cross country race in December each year from 1984 until 2007, before he passed away in 2008.

Serpentine first won this ten-men-to-score trophy in 1996 and we have been winning it on and off since then, including each the last three years, so we were therefore quietly confident about bringing it back with us this time too.

Nick Torry took the lead from the gun and never relinquished it, to finish 1st ahead of Richard Phillips in 2nd (who we'll only forgive for racing in both compression socks and compression arm-warmers on the basis that he'd run a hill session earlier the same day) and Kieran White of Hercules Wimbledon in 3rd. On short-term loan to us from Herne Hill Harriers, Jeff Cunningham finished 5th ahead of Eric Phillips in 6th. Andy Reeves, in perhaps his best race for us so far this season, came 8th, ahead of Jol Attwooll in 10th (who judging by the speed of his warm-down lap may have been sand-bagging in the race itself). Pau Herrero toughed out the very English weather and conditions in 11th, ahead of Simon Barrett (ignoring recent and not so recent injuries) in 12th and Steve Evans (ignoring recent illness) in 13th. Neil Donovan in 16th closed out our team leaving us comfortable winners ahead of the Stragglers and Hercules Wimbledon.

Ebrima Noble (who perhaps regretted the fast early pace) came 17th, ahead of Joe Thompson in 18th and Kevin Darcy in 25th. Gavin Edmonds in 27th felt ambivalent about running this race instead of the Luton Marathon which was cancelled because of the conditions, finished ahead of James Edgar in 33rd, Richard Taylor in 35th, Andy Davies (back to racing already after disappointment in Florence marathon) in 36th and Brent Plump in 37th. New recruit Steve Laverty finish in 41st ahead of father-of-twins-to-be Brad Cobb in 43rd who closed out our theoretical B team.

Raoul Mansukhani came 45th, ahead of convert from the roads, Stuart Webber, in 46th. Darren Over was 49th, Alex Malzer was 50th, Paul Fromme was 52nd, Jacob Miller was 56th, Sarah Edmunds (who arrived too late for the ladies' race) came 59th, Jeremy Milne was 63rd, Dave Morgan (taking his first painful steps after the San Sebastian Marathon) was 66th, Jean-Luc Hoez came 67th, ahead of Ian Hodge in 68th and Kiera Davidson (who also missed the ladies' race and in mine and a lot of other people's eyes gained a very strong moral victory over Ian Hodge even if he wasn't gentleman enough to be beaten by her in a sprint-finish) in 69th. Roderick Brown came 73rd and Alistair Henderson came 76th.

Conditions were perfect: the snow was starting to thaw but the mud remained still frozen. It was cold but not wet or windy and through the misty afternoon half-light Richmond Park looked Narnian and must be one of the most magical places to race cross country in London. It felt good to win, but if we are to be honest with ourselves given the size and strength of our squad we should easily be winning this level of competition.

Many thanks of course go to Malcolm French our tireless team-manager, the marshals, officials and various bureaucrats who organised and administered other things, the Serpettes who cheered us on, the Ranelagh Harriers who hosted us (we're very jealous of your club-house) and who managed to get the results out in record time despite having a printer that looked ante-diluvian, Lars Menken who took photographs which have been posted on facebook, the Rose of York whose landlord thought it was just too hilarious having some runners in his pub and the very John Ellis in whose name we were running.

I found a large male serpentine singlet in the debris after the race, so let me know if it's yours and I'll (wash it and) leave it in the clubroom on Wednesday. I'll make sure the trophy itself also ends up in the clubroom eventually, although it currently looks pretty good on my mantelpiece despite clearly not having been polished for at least a decade.

Our next big race is the Metropolitan League third fixture on 18th December in Stevenage and I hope to see a lot of you there. And if you're not already involved in cross country? It's your loss.

Eric



Chart 65f90b39d210d

Result queries

If you have any queries about these results please email results@serpentine.org.uk