After all the last minute drop-outs through injury, illness and apathy and a 450 mile journey, we finally made it to Norfolk on a bright sunny morning for the “Southerns”.

.......and here we are

The Under 15 Boys led off the racing, and once again Owen Willett showed that he has the natural talent to become a top middle distance athlete, as he held on well to secure 26^th place out of a field of 122 finishers.  All he needs to get right up with the best now is some regular sessions under his belt and more self belief!  The same could be said of Josh Williams, second home for CAC in 50^th position.  Once again, a lack of regular training saw him pay the price on the long uphill section of the course but he too has plenty of talent for the future.  It was good to see George Willmott (75^th) running a good race in club colours again and the team was closed in by club stalwart Dan Drew in 111^th to give them a very good 10^th position

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Owen, a picture of concentration, in the Under 15 race

The Under 15 Girls were out in force with seven club athletes, despite losing some key runners due to illness. Their friendly rivalry with each other continued, as they raced round the tough 4 kilometre course.  Winning the club “battle’ was Lizzie Gard, with a good but disappointing (for her) finish in 46^th place.  Starting more cautiously than some (they listen to me sometimes then!), both Ellie Starr and Amy Rundle came through the field in the latter stages, to finish in 61^st and 70^th  respectively. They just got the better of Olivia Ballard and Katie Parry, who followed them home 79^th and 95^th.  Continuing the ‘club championship’ theme, Janine Wee just held off Ellie Parkin as they closed in 107^th and 108^th  to bring the team home in 8^th position.  The difference in positions belied the closeness of the race, as each of our athletes could see their teammate just seconds ahead of them.  A great team in the making.

Janine, experiencing the 'big race' atmosphere for the first time

The Under 13 teams were both victims of the injury, illness and the apathy bug mentioned earlier, but what they lacked in quantity they made up in quality.  Annabel Gummow was the star performer for the club as she raced round the demanding course.  Just off the pace of the leaders at the top of the long opening climb, Annabel settled in with the chasing pack but was unable to close the gap as they raced down the next section of the course.  We all hoped she would come through as they hit the very tough climb before the final dash to the finish but despite picking up one or two places, the leaders were now well away and she finished a slightly disappointed 8^th.  When she looks back on the race, she can content herself with the knowledge that most of the top UK athletes in this age group are from the South.  Perhaps last week’s great run in the UK Challenge series took a little too much out of her but if she can peak for the big races, she has a great future ahead of her.  Jess Bolton was our only other runner and she had a good run on this tough course to finish 92^nd.  I wonder if she was aware that her great sprint finish claimed the scalp of a rival Newquay Par athlete!

A determined Jess tackles one of the hills in the Under 15 race

The Under 13 Boys suffered the same misfortunes as the girls, in that they could only field two athletes but they made up for the lack of quantity with some quality running.  Callum Jones and Luke Millington have had a few close battles this season and the Southern was no different.  Both got into good positions early on, with Callum a few seconds ahead of teammate Luke as they reached the top of the opening hill. Pushing on down the second long strait, Callum maintained the advantage to the start of the long hill climb but Luke then started closing the gap.  With a single second covering several athletes, there was literally nothing in it as they came down into the finishing funnel but Callum got the verdict as they both recorded identical times to place in the top quarter of the filed.  Callun was 32^nd out of 122 runners, with Luke sharing the same time just two places  behind.  What a pity we couldn’t persuade two others to make up a team that could well have come home with medals.

A gutsy run from Callum

Last up in the age group races were the Under 17 Ladies.  Surprise silver medallists last year, there was just a faint chance that they could pull it off again.  Elaina Gard set off at a good pace and after the initial climb was the leading CAC athlete, closely followed by Jenny Almey and Bethany Alston, then a slight gap to Kate Horam and Lucy Cotton.  As they approached the long hill on the first of their two laps, Jenny started moving through the field, with Elaina beginning to suffer from her fast early pace.  Behind them, Beth also found the climb tough and she also slipped back a bit as Kate began to move through.  The second time up the hill saw Elaina come back strongly but she was unable to quite get back to Jenny who led the team home in an excellent 29^th place, just ahead of Elaina in 34^th.  Further down the field Kate was giving chase to Bethany, with Lucy just a few places further back and they closed in the team in 57^th, 59^th and 69^th positions respectively.  Was it enough for a medal?  Sadly, despite a great effort, they missed out by a mere 6 points.  But are they downhearted?  No way: you ain’t seen nothing yet.  I’m putting money down on medals next year in the Under 20 age group.  You’ld be a fool to disagree!

On the left Kate (59th) and Jenny (29th)

Elaina (34th)

Bethany (57th)

The four scoring members of the Under 17 team, which just missed out on medals in 4th place.

If anyone deserved a medal, it was Dave Buzza.  Ok, so he’s got several drawers full, to say nothing of his England vests and other representative honours.  However, judge for yourself.  Weeks of chasing Seniors to get a team, constant phone calls, how many rooms to book (and prepay for from his own money), only to find himself the lone club representative.  Oh yes and before racing, call it a long warm up if you like, he has to drive my runners for 8 hours in a  minibus, then a further two hours the next morning.  We get there at 9.45.  Dave races over 15 kilometres at 3 o’clock.  No problem.  Nip round at an average 5 minutes 15 seconds per 1500 metre pace (10 times remember, no recovery), finish 44^th, beating 92% of the field of 553, then jump back in the bus and drive another 450 miles, getting home at midnight.  That’s dedication to the club folks!

Dave (44th) - runner, driver, team manager....

Our thanks should also go to Pete Meredith and Chris Jeffery for all the hard work which they again put into organising this trip and looking after the runners.

To view the full results, go to www.race-results.co.uk