I FOUND this race report from the English National Cross-Country Championships held on Town Moor on Saturday, March 1, 1986.
Make of the attempted Geordie dialect what you will!
THE ninety-ninth English Cross-Country Championships took place at Town Moor in Newcastle, this was the first time Newcastle had hosted the race, Provincial Insurance continued their support of the event. The programme contained a good Geordie welcome from the president M. Fraser of Darlington Harriers.
Us Geordie Hinnies want to say: ‘Howway aall ye lads, gan tappy lapy up the banks, but divvent cowp ya creels in the darts.’
Roughly translated means: ‘The local inhabitants would like to welcome all you chaps, to hope that you will not find the gradients excessive, and bid you take care lest you fall in the muddy ground.’
The course consisted of three
laps of approximately three miles plus the start and finish straights and was
nine miles in total.
The reigning champion, David
Lewis (Rossendale) was a notable absentee, Tim Hutchings (Crawley) spent the
week in Newcastle acclimatising and felt poised before the race saying: ‘I’m
reasonably confident about Saturday, I’ve been very pleased with my three runs
on the Continent and I really should have won in Paris. I feel I’m back to my
best now.’
This was an ominous warning
for the other leading contenders. Area champions were Bob Treadwell (Surrey
Beagles), Southern titleholder; Nigel Gates (Bath and Percy), Midlands winner
and Northern champion Geoff Turnbull (Gateshead) who was absent – Jon Richards
(Cornwall) held the Inter-Counties title. Dave Clarke (Hercules Wimbledon) and
Eamonn Martin (Basildon) were also planning to run. Tipton were hot favourites
for the team title.
The course was challenging as
it was covered with snow and ice undulating and there was also a cold wind
blowing across the moor. After a mile when the initial stampede had begun to
stretch out, the leading pack consisted of Mike McLeod (Elswick), Clarke,
Hutchings, Tony Milovsorov (Tipton), Roger Hackney (Aldershot, Farnham and
District) and Neil Tennant (Luton United).
The two main hills on each
lap had an impact of the leading runners. Hutchings was coping with them
admirably and when the runners started the second circuit Hutchings had a 40
metre advantage over Clarke with Tennant, McLeod and Steve Binns (Bingley),
Hackney, Martin and Miovsorov in pursuit. Hutchings continued to dominate
throughout the lap, and Clarke increased the gap on the chasing pack.
On the last lap Hutchings
made the going look ease with a masterful execution of cross-country running,
Clarke continued to chase and Martin overcame the challenge of McLeod, Binns
and Tennant to move into third, Hutchings went onto to win by 34 seconds in
47:25, silver went to Clarke and bronze to Martin. McLeod won the battle fourth
place.
Early leaders |
Winner: Tim Huchings |
In the team race Milovsorov
led Tipton to victory with their six counters placing inside the top 79, this
gave Tipton a 156-point win over Basildon with the Wolverhampton and Bilston
team picking up the bronze medals.
The 26-year-old Hutchings
said: ‘It wasn’t a traditional cross-country course. Had it been drier, it
would have been a very, very fast, flat course, with just that one hill really.
The second hill was negligible because you came down off the first one so fast,
but it was a tough course because of the conditions and I can’t complain about
that.’
Tim derived more satisfaction than his first win in 1983 saying: ‘I’m more aware of what’s going on now in the sport, especially after having such a bad year last year. Just about everybody was running apart from Dave Lewis.’
RESULT: 1 T Hutchings (Crawley) 47:25; 2 D Clarke (Hercules Wimbledon) 47:59; 3 E Martin (Basildon) 48:10; 4 M McLeod (Elswick) 48:33; 5 T Milovsorov (Tipton); 6 S Binns (Bingley) 48:43. Other notable NE finishers included: 15 B Rushworth (Sund) 49:19; 31 G Nagel (Gates) 50:24; 33 C Naisbitt (Walls) 50:27; 42 S Sutcliffe (Gates) 50:45;45 B Leddicoat (Gates) 50:52; 51 P Cuskin (J&H); 52 S Parr (Gates); 90 A Robinson (Gates); 121 A Johnson (Elsw); 128 D Hill (Sund); 149 M Coleby (Gates); 180 M Murphy (Gates); 187 R Cooke (NewAyk); 191 N Reeves (Morp); 204 A Wears (J&H); 220 K Lowther (J&H); 221 G Woods (Morp); 238 P Smith (Morp); 256 P O’Docherty (J&H); 274 A Dent (Blay); 277 P Merrison (Walls); 281 L Atkinson (Alnw); 283 C Abbott (NewAyc); 293 M Price (Derw); 296 A Jenkins (Morp). And, outside the top 300 at random, 301 G Hetherington (DurC); 323 I Brown (Morp); 345 J Marshall (DurC); 347 Moore (Gosf); 358 K Mackey (SthSh); 361 A Lamb (NSP); 365 B Jameson (Tyne); 397 W Gilroy (Gosf). Other prominent names include: 441 M Miles (heat); 461 A Gibson (Gosf);462 T Power (J&H); 463 D Speight (Morp); 467 G Robinson (Ch-le-St); 474 S Gaines (Morp); 488 D Lowther (J&H); 492 P Casey (Ch-le-St); 494 D Littlewood (Crook); 497 C Richardson (NSP); 507 K Freeman (Ch-le-St); 541 A Gallon (Heat); 542 J Morton (Elsw); 560 B Clark (Salt); 566 R Page (Hough); 578 I Archbold (Sund); 646 K Wesson (Ch-le-St); 672 J Alder (Morp); 685 M Candlish (J&H); 691 D Appleby (Clare); 699 R Boak (Walls); 760 P McLeod (Elsw); 764 D Henderson (Alnw); 778 M Shirley (Heat); 816 T O’Gara (Walls); 817 J Watson (Wash); 841 J Ranson (Ch-le-St); 844 C White (NewAyc); 945 A Brown (Blyth); 957 S Pigford (Hough); 1,018 O McGarell (SthSh); 1,067 B Murray (Derw); 1,101 T Attey (Ch-le-St); 1,118 T Went (NSP); 1,312 C Brown (Heat); 1,382 K Bay (Bray?) (NthPol); 1,442 M Page (Hough); 1,593 R Laverick (Ch-le-St). There were 1,707 finishers with Tipton winning the team race from Basildon and Wolverhampton and Bilston with Gateshead finishing fourth. 23 Jarrow and Hebburn; 27 Morpeth; 46 Elswick; 59 Mandale; 75 Newton Aycliffe; 76 Wallsend; 86 Chester-le-Street; 93 Blaydon; 104 North Shields Poly; 109 Gosforth; 130 Crook; 131 Claremont; 136 Tynedale; 144 Derwentside; 146 Saltwell; 147 Houghton; 152 Washington; 153 Darlington; 157 South Shields.
**THE 54th ladies National
was held earlier on February 2 at Western Park, Leicester and was won by Carole
Bradford (Clevedon) with Jane Shields (Sheffield) second and Julie Laughton
(Derby Ladies).
The North East charge was led
by Blaydon’s Jill Hunter who finished in 23rd place. Christina
Boxer, who later linked up with Gateshead, finished seventh.
Other notable NE finishers
included: 34 C Naisby (Hough), 69 J Scott (Darl), 88 C Leroi (Darl),103 D
Robinson (Darl), 109 L Souter (Darl), 152 M Dodsworth (Hough), 153 L Harding
(Hough), 159 H Robinson (Ch-le-St), 164 S Raine (Darl), 231 J Dixon (Gates),
274 K Cornwall (NSP), 292 Z Humphreys (Blay), 303 R Smith (NSP). There were 566
finishers. In the team race, won by Sale, Darlington finished 10th
and Blaydon were 36th.