2010 Sussex Cross Country Champs

The Sussex AAA X-Country Championships are now online here: http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/a.tlx?k=2mpzf87

Start of the u15g race signalled the start of the 2010 Annual Sussex Cross country championships held at Stanmer Park.


It what can only be described as some of the brightest and lowest sun we have had for a few days, the races all went off in good conditions. With some very tight racing all the way to the line - check out some of our other videos on youtube and you can see just how close the race finishes were.

A complete race report by Reg Hook can be found on the Sussex AAA site here along with the results in excel format.

The pictures below are some of the winners from each age group, so have a look to see if you can recognise them !

Have a good time looking through the images - please make sure you get yours in plenty of time as we do remove images after 3 months (we run out of server space otherwise). Because it takes so long to relocate images from archive (of over 6 Terrabytes and growing) we are seriously considering withdrawing or charging a one-off £10 admin fee for any archive searches and possible retrievals, and yes we have also considered changing our processes to speed up archive searches, however that would not be back-compatable at the moment. So, please make sure you buy these images before they go - it makes things so much simpler and a lot quicker for you !

A big well done to everyone who took part, the individual efforts and the team placements and team support was great to see and be part of again - you only have to look at the tented village to see the great turnout and a healthy 2010 for Sussex Athletics.

The Sussex AAA X-Country Championships are now online here: http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/a.tlx?k=2mpzf87


See you out and about soon on the 10th - Stubbington for Triss, Ian and I, Plumpton for Mick.

All the very best and go carefully in this cold weather (indoor gym running perhaps!)
Anthony

New Years Day Serpentine 10k

Hello and Happy New Year to you from me !

I hope you have had a good break and managed a bit of exercise, no matter how small (unlike me - I've done none). Meanwhile, apart from the odd Boxing day race, the first opener for 2010 was at the Serpentine New Years Day 10k in Hyde Park.

The pictures from the 2010 New Years Day Serpentine 10k are now online and available here:
http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/a.tlx?k=4l7zf80

The Sun shone. Very Brightly. Too Brightly. Far Far too brightly. It threw almost everything into shadow, or melted it. See if you can see the marshals face in the photo above and you'll see what I mean - and that one's with extra flash. You can just about see the big wheel.
Despite this rather major technical challenge (bright sun, low on horizon) we did manage to get some pretty panoramic photos:
http://www.mikeanton.com/360panos/Miscellaneous/AlbertHall.htm
http://www.mikeanton.com/360panos/Miscellaneous/Serpentine10Ksigningon.htm
However if anyone tried to take a picture of the runners with the Albert Hall in the background - they were going to be disapointed, just like we were, so no halfway race pictures this year I'm afraid. The sun was bright and the silouettes dark.

The race started smoothly enough and on time - as you can see below (the winter wonderland blaring out music in the distant background)



Some people even managed to give a shout out to their brave-the-cold supporters (it was extremely cold all day):


The race was eventually won by Serpentine homeboy Nicholas Torry in 30:23 age-graded 89.1%


Whilst Hannah Walker from Tring, didn't walk it in 35:48 to win the female race age graded at 85.7% - the same as the overall second place in the race - and miles ahead of the next lady.


The race sponsor Andy from Brooks (who do shoes, by the way) made it round in a respecatable 48:18 or something, I won't mention his age grade as he is currently still a friend. And no, he has not tried Newton shoes yet according to my sources.


There were some competitive finishers pushing things along as they came into the final straight.



And the sweeper bike this year did an excellent job of making sure the course was clear and finished. He was also faster than last year, and we have a positive feeling he may yet speed up next year too...



So remember the gallery is here:
http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/a.tlx?k=4l7zf80
and you can see pictures of the marshals and other serpie nice people by putting "marshal" or "misc" into the race number search box.
The results are on the serpentine page here by the way.


Finally let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year for 2010, may your running plans become a running record, and hopefully in some small way our photos will help you to set some of these down and commit them to memory and perpetuity.


Have a great year and see you out at a race soon !

Anthony