Ladies Middlesex County Cross Country Championships
Posted by Kevin Best on 16 January 2019
Not by any means our strongest team on paper but on the day we had 6 determined ladies who supported each other well and produced a result which turned out to be much better than we could have expected. Conditions were good for racing and the race was over the tried and tested course at Perivale, Greenford. The team on the day was Sophia, Liz, Brigid, Julie, Mary and Mirella. After a good warm up and recce of the course it was time to put on the fast shoes and get on to the start line after the traditional team photo and last minute removing of mud and clay from the cleats, which has a tendency to slow you down if not prepared when the gun goes.
So off they go and already Sophie and Liz have stamped a determined authority on the proceeding, the course is fast in places and undulating in others with 3 laps crammed into 8kish. Sophie ran determined and consistent throughout and looked to be having a good day of it finishing in a very creditable 9 place a top 10 finish in your county championships is no mean feat and probably not far off getting a senior county vest. Incidentally, Middlesex performed well in last years inter-county champs finishing 8th from 30 with Surrey taking the team and individual titles. Liz was the next one in for Straggs and I am sure I heard her say towards the end of the 2nd lap "I am not going round again" but this is a motivational tool that seems to work well for Liz and it did yet again on this occasion as she managed to tough it out and finish in 26th position and that is pretty good going for the "Road Runner". Brigid and Julie completed the team positions with Brigid running strong and looking comfortable and Julie working very hard and using all her experience in order to hang on as the last but probably the most important scorer for the team. Mary and Mirella both put in good performances that ensured that if one of our front runners went lame that we would still have a team finish and both good for morale as each time they came round there was a smile from each and a thankyou from Mirella. I suppose if you are out there you may as well enjoy it. Good team performance allround well done. Results on results page.
