The Stags Dig Deep at Eastbrookend Country Park in the Chingford League

Saturday 1st November saw the second Chingford League fixture of the season and it proved to be a day of commitment and resilience, starting with getting to and from Dagenham which is a challenge in itself and does not favour far flung clubs such as ours. That said our numbers were respectable, particularly those of our women’s team; seventeen of whom completed the race compared to nine of our men who did so.

We had runners recovering from illness, Yilka Istrefi, Tracey Deeks and Bev Dewberry, we had runners nursing niggles, Chun Ng and Shayna Godin, we had runners struggling with fatigue, Pear Brown, Anneli Sydenham and Matt Clark, we had a runner, Steph Harrison, who had spent two hours on a treadmill for research purposes two days earlier and we had a runner, Jenny Lambert, who simply was having a tough day at the races but they gave it their all such is the determination of the Stags when running for their Club. Superb!

It was a new course and for most of us an improvement on the previous one although a little narrow in parts. It was three laps, about 8K, reasonably flat, fast and scenic, very well marked and marshalled and on mixed terrain. In truth it was more a trail race than cross country but we didn’t mind and the weather was nice and balmy. Great conditions for racing.

Alex Shuker, who seems to be getting faster and faster, stormed to the front at the start in a magnificent statement of intent and led our men home, closely followed by Richard McCormick who had another great race and once again was the first M60 finisher and continues to lead the Individual M60 Points Trophy. Costa Michael was deservedly pleased with his race and Des Michael had a fine run and scored for the Club too.

Our women were led home by Steph Harrison demonstrating great endurance followed by Jana Jilkova and Yilka Istrefi; the three of them being the only 100%ers in the Winter Points Trophy. Brilliant! It was good to see Ciara McHugh racing again and she was 4th scorer with Laura Ng and Shayna Godin, both of whom had great races, completing our list of scorers. Jenny Lambert showed true grit and determination while Kirsty Johnstone who seems to be returning to fitness had a great race also.

Special thanks are due to Pauline Michaael for helping with the numbers, taking photos and providing much needed encouragement on the course. We had great homemade cakes too so thank you to everyone who brought some and indeed it seemed we were the only club to bring them. Our support crew is truly second to none.

In spite of tough competition from local clubs who turned out in high numbers our women came 6th and our men 7th which is very creditable in the circumstances. Well done everyone!