Written by DRB   

Beckenham Place Park Jan 13th 2018

It was a most inauspicious first visit to this attractive Beckenham course for Matt Hyett’s Men’s CC squad. Only half of our 20-odd team members signalled their intention to travel and even fewer actually made the start line. This has left us with an unenviable task at the final fixture at Lloyd Park,Croydon on February 10th,and the team are now faced with a very similar situation going into Round 4 as we were last season.

Only 9 runners(one short of a quorum),one of whom was delayed at work and missed the start,completed,and we suffered the inevitable penalties. After commencing the day in a fairly comfortable position,we have now plummeted into a battle to avoid relegation,as in 2016/17. WE NEED TO DO THE BUSINESS AGAIN,AS WE DID THEN! Whilst Dorking MV are adrift in 9th,there are 3 teams,with a mere 23 points between them,including K&P,and we will have to pull out all the stops to avoid the drop to Div 3.

Scott Evans and Matt Atkins were our lead runners,as ever,and with the field again quickly stretched out,we needed,and got,superlative performances from the two of them at the head of the peleton. The former diced with double-winner,John Sanderson(G&G) yet again,but again had to settle for ‘the silver’,whilst top-ranked M40 Matt was always in the lead group,taking 15th at the finish. Thereafter,we were missing a few,and it was Dave Wilby,fresh from a PB over 10K on the road on New Year’s Day,who was our 3rd scorer in 50th.TM M35 Matt Hyett(70),a fast-improving James Robertson(81),Alex Thomas,suffering from a recent illness(85th),Chris Gibbons(135),Mark Reed(184) and M60 David Greenfield(199) were our other scorers in the Nine. Those who were there did us proud,as ever,but there were just not enough bodies.

At least 3 of our attendees were either flitting between the UK and Germany,or suffering from illness,and it is to their special credit that they actually made the effort to be there. Mark Reed’s Surgery TT in Reading left him running late,but he was committed enough to chase the field robustly some 8 minutes after the start.

The full results,as usual now,can be found on Andy Robinson’s Surrey League site – go to www.surreyathletics.org - and follow the CC icons.

In a nutshell,the day,teamwise,was extremely disappointing for all including the tiny support group – we did manage to head DMV but slipped drastically to 8th on the day,and the last 5 places going to Lloyd Park are…

5 Croydon 1496

6 E&E 1605

7 K&P 1608

8 Windmilers 1628

9 DMV 1849

Simply,we MUST,please,all support Matt on Feb 10th and this is especially relevant to our higher ranked athletes.