Nopesport

Yesterday saw the CompassSport Cup and Trophy finals take place round Greenham Common, hosted by BAOC.

In the large clubs Trophy competition Octavian Droobers faced tight competition from South Yorkshire and Bristol OK, but class wins from Iain Enbrey (M20-/blue), Jess Halliday (W20-/green) and Mike Hampton (M60+/green) were backed up by top three placings by Graham Gristwood (Open/brown/2nd), Liis Johansson (Womens Open/blue/3rd) and Sue Bicknell (W60+/Short Green/2nd).

In the small clubs trophy competition SARUM of the South West beat Scotland's Forth Valley by just 26 points. SARUM can thank class wins by Alice and Tom Butt, second places by Ruth Holmes, Emily Benham, Jan Belza, Ron Ley and third places by Ben Chesters and Julia Blomquist for this victory.

There were some notable individual victories as well. In a very strong mens open field Matt Crane, running for Walton Chasers, won by a clear minute and a half over GB team mate Graham Gristwood. This win will give Matt a good boost going into his winter training programme.

On the womens open Becky Carlyle signalled her intentions with a victory over a field including numerous GB squad athletes. Watch out for Becks in an EUOC top next year, as she has just started her PhD at Edinburgh Uni.

Alice Butt may not have won the Green Women course, being 19 seconds behind Jess Halliday, but since she is 3 years younder than the OD runner this is a notable achievement and bodes well for her season next year.

However these are not the only achievements of the day, and in competitions like the CSC it as much about the mid-packers putting a good run in as it is about the sharp end.

Individual Results (pdf)
Team Scores (pdf)