----------------------------------- Shotover Invitational v RAF (15/10/05) -----------------------------------
It's always easy to forget that for a race to happen, a veritable army of officials is needed. This event was no exception, and our thanks go out to: Zoe Barber, Tim Beale, Alice Beverly, Courtney Birch, Martin Bishop, Jonathan Blackledge, Martine Bomb, Kathy Burgoine, Zara Chidoub, Juan Coderch, Jamie Darling, Ben Grandey, Stephen Granger-Bevan, Patrick Grant, Pete Harding, Paul Harrison, Ian Hewitt, James Hogan, M. Howlett, Laura Kyte, Cerys Manning, Philip Marshall, Steve Marshall, Travis Pantin, Chris Parr, Pete Sarkies, Doron Shultziner, Thomas Stevens, Bill Thompson, Paddy Wallace and Al Weaver
Report
The annual RAF Invitation Match - held at Shotover Plain, on the outskirts of Oxford - is a stern opener to the term, with its mix of terrain - ranging from a large undulating wooded section, to a long, flat, grassy stretch to the finish - providing an ideal environment in which to gauge the fitness of Varsity hopefuls.
Basking in the autumn sunshine, Laura Kyte, Lizzie Brathwaite and Emily Crowley started the women’s race with strong intent, striding away from the compact field to assert their advantage on the single lap course - leaving lone RAF challenger, T. Park trailing. The group, stretched by the punishing, winding inclines, began to separate midway through the race. Lizzie eked out a narrow lead over her teammate Emily and then used the final half-mile to pass Laura, who had been leading for much of the race, and bring home the victorious triumvirate.
Newcomer Claire Weldon moved through the field to finish 5th - cementing the team win (the first four finishers score for the team). Reaping the benefits of her preseason endurance training, 400metres Blue, Katie Sam, came 8th - narrowly behind ex-Oxford runner Lucy Flanner - to ensure a top order awash with dark blue. In the men’s race, Oxford’s leading pack of David Bruce, Mark Dewhirst, Martin Bishop and Alan Chetwynd set off around the two lap course to avenge last year’s defeat to the RAF, gathering behind RAF competitors D. Cole and B. Livesey and ex-Blue, Sam Aldridge, until the final lap, when Bruce surged away from his teammates into 2nd place. Struggling to continue the momentum set by their compatriot, Bishop and Dewhirst were forced to settle for 5th and 6th places respectively; their inability to catch the RAF duo setting the scene for a climactic end to the team battle.As Aldridge, untroubled throughout, eased to 1st place, the tussle for team spoils escalated further down the field: a last gasp sprint from Chetwynd came agonising close to restoring OUCCC’s advantage but his attempt came to no avail, and 8th place, behind the fourth RAF finisher, left the team ruing a chance missed.
SGB ran excellently to place 11th whilst Justin Bronder, fresh from his marathon training, took 15th, leading a group of dark blue comprised of Tom (Richard) Stevens, Chris Millard, Steve Marshall and James Hogan. Henry Alty put in an encouraging performance, finishing 21st.
A banquet fit for a king (prepared by the able teamaking girls Zara and Jess) awaited the tired, hungry competitors at Iffley, who happily gobbled all the cakes and biscuits.
The more industrious committee members sacrificed cakes galore to stay at Shotover and take down the course. Among those that deserve a special mention are: Jon Blackledge, for organising the race and Martin Bishop, Patrick Grant and Dave Harding for minibus driving.
Women's Race: 11 OUCCC: Brathwaite (1), Crowley (2), Kyte (3), Welder (5) 34 RAF: Park (4), Ritchie (9), Roe (10), Meecham (11) Pos Time Name Club College 1 19:29 Elizabeth Brathwaite OUCCC Mansfield 2 19:33 Emily Crowley OUCCC Linacre 3 19:40 Laura Kyte OUCCC Trinity 4 19:52 T. Park RAF 5 19:55 Claire Weldon OUCCC St Edmund Hall 6 20:10 Amy Bond Reading AC 7 20:31 Lucy Flanner OUCCC St Hilda's 8 21:27 Katharine Sam OUCCC Wadham 9 21:37 T. Ritchie RAF 10 22:01 J. Roe RAF 11 22:06 M. Meecham RAF 12 23:08 E. Wright RAF 13 24:42 Tracey Finn Reading AC 14 25:27 Aimee de Gruchy-Lambert OUCCC Brasenose Men's Race 22 RAF: Cole (3), Livesey (4), Sanderson (7), D. Lewis (8) 22 OUCCC: Bruce (2), Bishop (5), Dewhirst (6), Chetwynd (9) 77 Reading AC: Aldridge (1), Bond (24), Munt (25), Jenkins (27) Pos Time Name Club College 1 29:29 Sam Aldridge Reading AC 2 29:45 David Bruce OUCCC Lady Margaret Hall 3 29:49 Dave Cole RAF 4 29:51 B. Livesey RAF 5 30:16 Martin Bishop OUCCC New 6 30:39 Mark Dewhirst OUCCC Trinity 7 30:44 D. Sanderson RAF 8 31:03 D. Lewis RAF 9 31:03 Alan Chetwynd OUCCC St Edmund Hall 10 31:22 T. Fuller RAF 11 31:46 Stephen Granger-Bevan OUCCC Oriel 12 31:57 M. Maxwell RAF 13 32:11 R. Hughes RAF 14 32:26 C. Rowland RAF 15 32:40 Justin Bronder OUCCC Exeter 16 32:41 Thomas Stevens OUCCC Jesus 17 32:55 Chris Millard OUCCC Lincoln 18 33:04 Steve Marshall OUCCC Magdalen 19 33:10 James Hogan OUCCC St Edmund Hall 20 33:13 J. Siddens RAF 21 33:15 Henry Alty OUCCC Worcester 22 33:19 Peter Sarkies OUCCC Wadham 23 33:32 Doron Shultziner OUCCC Lincoln 24 33:38 Steve Bond Reading AC 25 33:49 Tom Munt Reading AC 26 33:58 Dave Gavaghan OUCCC New 27 34:07 Pete Jenkins Reading AC 28 34:11 Simon Harding OUCCC St Catherine's 29 34:12 Andy Young Reading AC 30 34:24 Mike Proven Reading AC 31 34:27 Tom Lawson OUCCC Queen's 32 34:46 Ian Ross OUCCC Brasenose 33 34:55 Darren Lewis Reading AC 34 35:02 Will Devonish Exeter Uni AC / Oxford City AC 35 35:09 Gavin Dalton RAF 36 35:25 Christopher Dowden OUCCC Merton 37 35:28 Mark Griffins Reading AC 38 35:42 Jonathan Marshall OUCCC St Hugh's 39 35:48 William Unsworth OUCCC St Edmund Hall 40 35:48 Dave Rochester Reading AC 41 36:33 Jonathan Boyd Reading AC 42 37:03 Pete Golding RAF 43 37:59 Edward Archibald OUCCC Magdalen 45 38:03 Jamie Darling OUCCC St John's 45 38:04 Richard Dobell OUCCC Brasenose 46 38:08 Alex Chidgley Reading AC 47 38:10 James Finnigan Kidlington 48 38:31 Sebastien Poirier Reading AC 49 41:54 Cyrus Mower Kidlington 50 42:05 Wiz Bruce (V50) Kidlington 51 43:44 Brian Fiddian (V50) Kidlington 52 44:06 John Warnock (V50) Kidlington 53 44:12 Mike Jones Kidlington 54 47:06 Tony Chambers Kidlington 55 47:46 Benjamin Grandey OUCCC St John's 56 49:28 Michael Search (V50) Kidlington 57 49:43 Trevor Langrish (V50) Kidlington
[ Back to results ]