Cross-Country Results
                    2002/2003

Sat 8 Mar 2003

South of Thames Senior Champs - Farthing Downs

A very small field of 110 for this years race. Obviously they were missing a number of Collingwood entries.

Sat 1 Mar 2003

Croydon Harriers Invitation XC - Lloyd Park

Andy reported that the course was the worst he had ever seen it - lots of mud and standing water. Heavy rain from about an hour before the start probably played its part there.

Sat 22 Feb 2003

National XC Champs - Parliament Hill

Unusually just the one Collingwood participant in the Nationals this year.

Sun 2 Feb 2003

Punchbowl Marathon

A wet one for the guys and gals slogging it out over the 25 and 30 miles of the Punchbowl Marathon. Terry and Andy managed the whole 30, and the others opted for a mere 25 miles. Apparently, Mel showed an aptitude for map reading that prevented Rob and the others getting lost for a change.

Sat 1 Feb 2003

Div III Fixture 4 - Lightwater Park

The final league fixture of this season. No Andy Flett to lead us home in this one as he is injured, so we accumulated a few too many points, despite good performances from those who were running.
Elmbridge, who were just behind us in the table, turned out a large team and overhauled us to leave Collingwood in 8th overall and relegation.
26.2 are the other team to be relegated, whilst Woking and Croydon Harriers are promoted. Division 2 is yet to be decided, but Holland Sports (champions) and Tadworth (runners-up) are promoted from the 4th.
Our rivals in Div 4 next season will be: Dulwich Runners, Vets AC, Lingfield, Runnymede, Redhill & Surrey Beagles, Waverley, and Sutton & District, who finished the division in that order.

Sun 19 Jan 2003

The Perch (6.25 Miles)

Despite being a late addition to the cross-country handicap championship (ok so it's multi-terrrain), many of the usual suspects for trophy hunting were missing from today's line-up.
Looks like Terry gave Bob a good run for his money though.

Sat 11 Jan 2003

Surrey Lge Div III Fixture 3
Farthing Downs

This race was scheduled for Purley Way but had a late change of venue to Farthing Downs. A 3 lap course with some icy patches and some frozen and heavily rutted sections. Just the odd patch of mud. The times seem to suggest that it was more like 6 miles than 5.
Collingwood was 6th on the day, moving up to 7th overall, 66 points clear of the relegation zone, and only 11 points away from 5th spot.

Sat 4 Jan 2003

Surrey XC Champs

The event was run for the first time at Nork Park over a 4 lap course with a long downhill section followed by a similarly long uphill bit to finish each lap. Quite unbelievably we had a full complement of 12 runners, I think that's a first. New member, Paul Reed had his first run out in Collingwood colours. The team was 11th of 18.

Thur 26 Dec 2002

Saltwood Boxing Day 3

Dan was 9th of 484, a little slower than last year in very wet and muddy conditions.

Sat 23 Nov 2002

SLH The Pirie 10 miles
Farthing Downs

A change from our usual visit to Parliament Hill for the London XC Champs, brought us to Farthing Downs where it was wet but mostly good ground apart from one section "like glue". All were pretty pleased with their runs, especially Malcolm who had grave misgivings about running 10 miles over the country. Not even toothache could keep him away though with handicap points at stake. Going into this race, Keith had moved ahead of Malcolm in the championship by one point.

Sat 9 Nov 2002

South of Thames Junior
Sparrow's Den

Some of the team were a bit late for the start, including Keith who was still putting his shoes on when the gun went. He managed to make up some time, pipping Rob just before the line. The team was 13th of 19.
In the handicap championship, Malcolm is leading Jess by 10pts after this race.

Sat 16 Nov 2002

Surrey Lge Div III Fixture 2
Lloyd Park

A disappointing 7th in this race, dropping us to 8th overall. With 2 races still to go there are only 39 points to save to move up to 6th, which is quite possible with the return of several faces missing from this event.

Sat 12 Oct 2002

Surrey Lge Div III Fixture 1
Epsom Downs

The first fixture of the league season and the newly promoted and relegated clubs had obviously raised the standard somewhat. People who had last season been finishing in the 20s were now in the 40s. Nevertheless Collingwood managed 5th place to get us off to a fair start. Things are fairly tight between 5th and 8th place though. Only 28 points separate them.