Highlights for White Horse Harriers in the last few months have been social as well as athletic. Seventy seven people of all ages, members and their friends and families, turned up at Lains Barn on 30^th November to celebrate 20 years since our formation. There were letters of best wishes from far and wide (Kent – Phil Smith, Hong Kong – Dave Smith), speeches, great food (thank you Dick Squires and Priory Catering), great drink (thank you Bob Harrison) and, of course, the prize giving and the raffle!

As ever, the young athletes dominated the prize giving, but it was good to see Neil Webb picking up his award for Best Field Event performance, breaking Ron Jones’ long-standing discus record and being a stalwart of our Southern League team. We wish Neil all the best for his imminent wedding and move to Australia.

And the youngsters continue to stir things up in the local Cross Country scene, with Tom Penfold and Josephine Rhodes both beating Senior fields in the Oxford League. Further afield, Frances Briscoe has adopted well to life at University in Bath, and won a recent Southern Inter Counties U20 race….fuller details inside.

Finally, Paul Jegou needs the help of at least 20 members / parents at the next Oxford League fixture on 30^th December, which WHHAC are hosting at Ardington. We need volunteers for marshalling and car parking duties, from about 9 a.m. Please ring Paul on 01235-768050.

Hopefully I can pull my finger out and get this edition of the Harrier out to members before Christmas (it should have been a November deadline). The old excuse "pressure at work" can be trotted out again, I’m afraid, and for that reason I’m hoping to hand on the reins to some fresh new talent in the New Year…..which reminds me, Happy Christmas and lots of p.bs in the New Year!

 NEW YEAR’S DAY HANDICAP ROAD RACE

DATE : Tuesday, 1st January 2002

DISTANCE : Approx. 4 miles

TIME : First Start at about 11 a.m

REFRESHMENT : After the race, either in the Fox,

or the Lord Nelson in Wantage

Your Membership Secretary is Dave Wright, 3 Elizabeth Avenue, OX14 2NP. (Tel. 01235 201380). You can also contact Dave by e-mail, wrightsathome@aol.com. Dave asks me to remind all members that your 2002 subscriptions are now OVERDUE…please send them to him as soon as possible. A reminder of the rates; £15.00 for Seniors, £20 for Families, £5 for Under 19s, and £5 for Associate or 2^nd Claim members.

We’ve had a bumper ‘crop’ of young athletes join in the last few months….Louise Carr, Rebecca Norris, Phoebe Arbuthnot, Robin Culshaw and Graham Shellard. Senior new members include Tony Haupt, Astrid Mehrtens, Jill Crook and Peter Casey. Wantage residents will perhaps recognise Peter from Casey’s the Jeweller’s, and I remember reading of his sponsored cycle rides in the local press (hope I’ve got the right fella, Peter!) We also welcome back Ginny Henderson, who has re-joined, and who I can heartily recommend as an ace Chiropractor and sports masseur.

To all of you, welcome to White Horse Harriers.

The Harriers are always offered 2 entries in the London Marathon, and the Committee usually awards these places to runners on their form from the previous few months. We’ve got several candidates for the Female place, but no obvious takers for the Male place. Could potential candidates either get in touch with Road Racing Secretary Sheila Bailey (01235-769194) or read the notice in Wantage Sports Centre.

We send our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Alan Jones, who had a nasty accident on his bike. Having survived numerous falls off his mountain bike the previous weekend, Alan had a ‘hard’ landing when he came off his road bike in slippery conditions near Denchworth, damaging his abductor muscles. Fortunately he has a very good Masseuse living in the same house so we all know he’ll be back on the roads very soon!

Thanks to the persistent efforts of Dave Wright, a team was knocked together and finished 2nd, behind Woodstock.

Leg times as follows :

(report by Josephine Rhodes)

Lambourne was yet again a very successful morning's work for the people in green. I have never run the race before, but last year Jason Cooke was the victor and the year before Tom Penfold came second. Tom was determined to put that right though and conditions were perfect for the 6 km run around Lambourne village.

At the start as usual all the men/tiny boys sprinted off leaving me and Tracey Galbraith to work our way steadily through the pack. After about 1 km the course climbs steadily uphill for 700 m. Then you find yourself on an off-road trail.

At this point I was left stranded as Tracey sped off into the distance; I chugged on and waited for someone to pass. Then I tagged onto the back of him and passed him when we reached the next hill.( Very fun tactics!-you should try them some time!)

Tom won in style, obliterating the field by some 2 minutes or so. His time of 20:23 was just 20 seconds off the course record. Owain was the next Harrier to finish in a time of 22:18. This was good enough for 4th place and was a very confident run by him.  I came in 8th, just behind a bloke with a dog wearing a vest advertising worming tablets in 25:08 (Who? the dog or the bloke-oh, sorry both.) Tom King also had a very fine run in 21st place with a time of 27:10.

Tom received a very nice shield for his efforts and Owain and I received trophies for 1st U/16 male and female.  Apart from anything this race proved we are all fighting fit and ready to tackle the x-countries.

Finally I would just like to say GOOD LUCK! to Frances who left on Monday for Bath University which means she misses the BMC Course-always count on Frances for perfect timing!!

Well done everybody and good luck for the coming season.

SEPTEMBER ROAD RACES......report from Pete Wilson

There was an excellent turnout of Harriers at this year's Newbury Kerridge Ten Mile race (9th September).  Both senior men (Jason Cooke, Dave Murfin and Peter Wilson) and veteran men (Richard Frame, Tim Hughes, Nick Ponting and Dave Wright) were well represented.  Perhaps wisdom (or common sense) is acquired with age:  two of the senior men missed the start and chased the broom wagon rather than the lead vehicle for the first mile and a half, whilst the other (in preparation for a triathlon debut?) cycled from Wantage to the start line.  Individual results to follow.  Team Result:  White Horse 2nd.

Three Harriers participated in this year's undulating Witney 10 mile road race on 16 September.  Peter Wilson led from the start and eventually won by just over a minute (54:16).  Marathon man Jason Cooke was closing down Banbury's Simon Pritchard over the last couple of miles, but lost valuable seconds by turning into the car park rather than the finishing field towards the end of the race.  He still clocked 58:24 to finish in sixth place.  Nick Ponting (50th 1:09:09) ran significantly faster than he had over the same distance at Newbury the previous week.

This annual local race, organised by Oxford City, had Tim Hughes (26:33) fighting it out with the leaders, eventually finishing 11 seconds on the winner, but taking the Vets prize. He was followed home by Jason Cooke in 9^th (27:35), with Dave Murfin 24^th (29:33)…..I’m afraid I don’t have any other Harriers’ times/positions to hand, but I do know the Women’s team came 2^nd.

It’s well-documented that we needed to reschedule our annual event from April due to concerns with the Foot and Mouth outbreak, but I don’t think any of us realised the turnout would be so low, with just 91 finishers. Still, the organisation of the race went as well as ever, and thanks to everyone who helped on the day with marshalling, refreshments, car parking, etc.

Results on the next page…..

Pete and Dave won both Open and Oxfordshire Senior and V40 titles respectively, and Melanie was 1^st L40. The Men won the Open team race.

Dave Wright had been putting in some solid Autumn training, and looked even meaner ‘n leaner than normal in the run-up to this race. Dave’s plan was to run 6 minute miles for as long as possible, which should have been enough to secure a position in the top five. I seem to remember adopting a similar plan myself in the 1994 version of the race, but I burnt my fingers more than Dave did, with my 2:53 effort being my last-ever marathon (definitely!). Dave finished gamely in 2:48, picking up the Oxon V40 silver medal. In fact all our entrants walked away with medals…. Sheila Bailey won the Oxon V45 title, and Ros Knopp picked up the bronze in the V35.

OXFORD MAIL LEAGUE 1, ASCOTT UNDER WYCHWOOD, 4^th NOVEMBER 2001

Some great performances in the first outing this season.  Chris Gillespie and Owain Bristow look set to continue the White Horse domination of the U17 Race.  Tom Penfold has moved on and up, and produced a cracking 2nd place in his debut Senior Men's race, and led us to a solid team win....no Pete Wilson, but great backup from Steve McGuigan and Dave Wright, and was that Nick Ponting closing in the team? However the team contest this year looks to be very competitive, with Woodstock, Headington and Banbury all snapping at our heels

But perhaps the most amazing run of the day was Josephine Rhodes, still an U17, winning the Senior Women's race.

As usual, we are managing to put competitive teams into this League, with a win in Division Two on this occasion. Tim Hughes (27:32) was 9^th, Paul Jegou (27:52) 11^th and Jason Cooke (28:26) 14^th. They were backed up by Dave Murfin (29:50) 32^nd, Nick Ponting (31:42) 49^th and Clifford Jones (34:39) 72^nd.

Pete Wilson lead home the White Horse challenge, surrounded by a very powerful squad of young Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow athletes. None of them were old wrinklies however, so our number one old wrinklie Dave Wright was able to win V40 in 9^th place overall, with Tim Hughes 3^rd Vet in 14^th overall.

1^st Windsor, Slough, Eton, Hounslow & large parts of Southern England 41 pts

2^nd White Horse Harriers (Wantage, Abingdon & Didcot) 102 pts

3^rd Reading A.C 157 pts

Meanwhile our young athletes missed the B,B & O this year to compete in the prestigious Reebok Cross Country event in Margate, which is used as a trial for the European and other representative squads. Josephine Rhodes impressed the selectors enough to be picked for the South of England in a match to be held in Belgium, finishing a creditable 26^th (time 12:35) in the U20 race.

And at another location on the same day, our Ladies were running a 10.5km multi-terrain race in (I think) Amersham. The team finished 4^th, in an overall field of 387, with 108 female runners.

There was keen racing up the front of these races and, as ever, the Harriers were part of the action. The U17 Men’s race saw Chris and Owain pitted up against Matt Ashton of Witney…it was like Two David’s and Goliath! Eventually Chris won by a second, with Owain edged into third.

Tom built on the confidence he gained in the first race, and this time became the youngest winner of the Senior race in the League’s history. The team challenge hotted up, with Woodstock taking advantage of the fact that we were "missing a few" and sneaking into a seven point overall lead.

Our Women’s team were once again led home by Josephine in 3^rd place, and have now moved into 3^rd team overall…..good to see Ann Cummings out again, along with newcomer Jill Crook.

(report by Peter Wilson)

The Wessex League fixture at Hurn Bridge saw Derek Green make a welcome return to competitive action. This was Derek's first race since last season's final Oxfordshire League fixture at Shotover.  The meeting itself was advertised as a combined event with the Avalon League, but there were precious few competitors from the Avalon League in the senior men's race and the overall size of the field was a little disappointing.   Ten years ago, the Wessex League was thriving and attracted 200+ competitors to the senior men's race; some of last season's races had barely 80 finishers.  Two factors which may have contributed to the decline in the league's popularity are the courses (some of which are short, flat and multi-lapped) and the scoring system which requires a mere three per team.  This is less than many other leagues - the Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey leagues, for example, require 5, 7 and 10 scorers per men's team respectively.

The Hurn Bridge course, however, is excellent - one small lap, followed by three larger ones - for a cumulative distance of 5-6 miles.  Each lap features a  substantial hill, and the course is wide enough for over-taking most of the way round.  Last year, there were several stretches of the course under-water, but the going was firmer under foot on this occasion.

The Harriers finished second team behind Swindon.  The scorers were Peter Wilson (32:31) 4^th, Jason Cooke (34:13) 11^thand Derek Green (34:31) 13^th.  Jason was just squeezed out of the top ten towards the end of the race.  Derek has recently returned from Nepal and surely benefited from spending a month at altitude, moving through the field on the hills and finishing just 18 seconds adrift of Jason.  The other Harriers were Paul Jegou (35:36) 22^nd, Dave Murfin (who suffered a hamstring strain on the way to 62^nd in 38:41), Nick Ponting (38:42) 63^rd and Clifford Jones (41:54) 93^rd.

WHHAC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS (as at 16^th December 2001)

Events forming part of the club championship are in bold, for which your best eight scores are used. The National has been re-included due to popular demand, and with the Southern scores double points. Other recommended races are listed to keep you more than busy this winter.

30 December Ardington

6 January Horspath

13 January Wessex League, Pewsey Vale

26 January Parliament Hill Fields

3 February Cirencester

3 March Banbury

17 March Wessex League, Dorchester

It all started on a training run over twenty years ago.

Dave Martin (seen here walking on water, and soon

to perform numerous miracles at future Committee

meetings) caught up with Roger Mills (so Dave tells

the story). Roger was a member of Didcot A.C at the

time, but the two of them, along with another runner

they met out in the wilds of Grove, Bob Haddrell,

decided to form a local club for Wantage and Grove.

The first committee meeting was held at the house of

Val Brewerton (a local Tug of War official) on 14^th

September 1981…also present was Barry Strange.

A public meeting was set up at Icknield School (KA’s

East site) on 9^th October, where 70 people turned up,

with 45-50 clogging up Portway for a training session

at the Sports Centre the following Sunday!