Dulwich Runners returned to Surrey League cross country action for the first time following promotion for both their teams, knowing that the level of competition would be much tougher this time around, writes Jonathan Whittaker.
Effingham Common played host to the first fixture with firm, dry and sunny conditions.
Dulwich fielded 15 runners for the 5km ladies and co-captain Kay Sheedy was the first Dulwich finisher in an 20:05 (42nd). There was a promising cross-country league debut from Alex McClelland in 21:02 (70th), with the scoring completed by strong runs from Katie Smith (22:00, 99th), Katie Styles (22:17, 106th) and co-captain Ola Balme (22:31, 112nd). Dulwich placed 12th out of the 14 A teams.
The men’s race followed a similar course with an extra lap to form a 8km race.
The club had high hopes of a strong placing following some superb road race performances this year. Ed Chuck was back to his imperious best following a slight injury over the summer, taking a top-10 position in 24:16 (eighth).
Nick Impey (20th, 24:55) and Aaron Wilson (28th, 25:23) made excellent cross country league debuts, closely followed by Rob Armstrong (32nd, 25:27) and Ben Howe (34th, 25:29) to give Dulwich some early solid packing in the higher-scoring echelons.
Shane O’Neill (51st, 26:00) then led another closely-packed group of Adrian Russell (59th, 26:17), Tom South (61st, 26:25), Tim Bowen (65th, 26:32) and Fred Bungay (67th, 26:36) to place the team in fourth out of 10 teams – the club’s best ever position in a Division One league race.
With more high-quality runners to return from a combination of injury, marathon recovery and international duty there is great potential to build on this excellent start in the three league races to come.
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