Race Report by Sally Broome - PSUK Cross Country Representative

The 2011 Police Sport UK Cross Country Championships were staged by Devon and Cornwall Police in Beer, East Devon, a stunning little seaside fishing village on the Jurassic Coast.  The organisers were blessed with a dry but breezy afternoon with the rain holding off until the men had started; some 320 plus athletes competed over a  challenging and demanding course, a segment of which is used as part of the infamous ‘Grizzly’ series, offering few areas for recovery.

The course was run over mixed terrain, predominantly grass heath land.  The runners had to contend with a sharp decent taking them down to Greater Seaside to run a kilometre stretch along the pebble beach before negotiating a steep climb from the beach up “The Hooken”.

The women ran a distance of 4 plus miles and the men a distance of over 7 miles.

The women’s race started the afternoon’s competition off, setting off at a steady pace across the relatively flat section of the course.  As the ladies ascended the climb from the caravan park to commence the main large lap, Diane Lauder (Lothian & Borders) was at the head of the field closely followed by Natalie Farrow (Lincolnshire) with Christine Howard (Vet 40, Derbyshire) a few metres further back.  These three were then in turn being chased by Sarah Rose (Vet 35, West Midlands) and Jessica Turner (Vet 35, Gloucestershire), who was competing in her first race for over three years. At the top of ‘The Hooken’ (Steep Climb from the beach) Lauder looked and was running strongly having opened up a commanding lead of over two minutes, which she held on to, to complete the race and take her first PSUK national cross country championship title in a time of 34 minutes and 48 seconds. Farrow held onto second place in a time of 36:53 with Howard, holding off the fast finishing challenge from Turnbull, to finish third in 38:04.  Turnbull ran well to finish fourth and take the Veteran 35 championship. Rose in fifth place, second veteran 35, led the West Midlands ladies team to take the Veteran’s team title.    

Other strong performances came from Kate Williams (Vet 50, Northamptonshire) in 9^th, Jo Church (Vet 45, Devon & Cornwall) in 21^st, Paula Bowden (Vet 40, Devon & Cornwall) in 24^th and Jill Sharpe (Vet 55, Leicestershire) in 69^th, all who won their respective age groups.

The overall team title was won by the Metropolitan Police, with Fife taking the Minor Forces team title.

In the men’s race they had to negotiate the sharp decent taking them down to Greater Seaside twice.  Just after the men had started their race the weather deteriorated and the rain that had been forecasted for the day started causing the temperature drop.  As the men climbed up from the caravan park for the first time to go onto their final large lap Rob Jackaman and Peter Tucker (both Metropolitan) were leading the field running side by side. These two were being chased by Rob Grantham and Ian Wetherall (Vet 40)(both Cheshire), who in turn were being pursued by Rhys Peters (Metropolitan) , Daniel Rainscourt (Hampshire), Joel Clewitt (Metropolitan), Paul Cardy (Hampshire) and Malcolm Fowler (Vet 45, Cheshire).  Jackaman managed to pull away, putting almost a minute on Tucker to claim his first PSUK national cross country title.  Jackaman completed the race in a time of 45 minutes and 30 seconds.  Tucker was second in 46:20.  Wetherall managed to overhaul his team colleague Grantham as they commenced the run in to the finish line, taking third place in a time of 46:54, just two seconds ahead of Grantham.

Other top performances came from Malcolm Fowler (Vet 45) in 9^th place, Kenny MacPherson (Vet 40,Northumbria) in 12^th place, Iain Campbell (Vet 50, Metropolitan) in 13^th place, Peter Golding (Vet 55, Suffolk) in 20^th place and Des Michael (Vet 60, Hertfordshire) in 56^th place all winning their respective age categories.

The Metropolitan Police retained the overall championship team title, with Cheshire taking the veterans team title and Gloucestershire taking both the Minor Forces team title and the Minor Forces veteran’s team title.

All competitors are to be congratulated on their efforts and the organisers on a well supported and successful championship.

Results - Men - Course 11km

Results - Women - Course 7.5km

Teams - Men

Teams - Women

Teams - Men's Veteran 40+