At this month's social this year's XC (Cross Country) Team Captains, Sarah Mack and Kieran Santry, gave everyone a flavour of what you can expect from the upcoming XC season.
Whilst you may remember running around the school field (or if you went to my school, the local streets!) in a dubious definition of what cross country is and used the opportunity to sneak off for a fag or some sweets, then you're in for a surprise - there is much more to it than that!
For a start, there is tea and cake!
As a club we participate in both the Met League (which takes place usually on Saturday afternoons) and also a popular Sunday League (which takes place on Sunday mornings). Both are open to any and all members of the club, regardless of age or ability. Both leagues will start in October and run through to February.
In 2016 our brilliant ladies team were promoted to the second division. This year it would be great to get more ladies out there, including veterans (ladies 35 or over) and also to get a full men's scoring team out at all of the fixtures. In the Sunday League, we brought home trophies for the ladies veteran team won their division and the ladies A team, and we would love to build on this success in the 2016/2017 season. The distance can vary for the fixtures but they are typically a maximum of 5 miles or 10k.
Running cross country for the club is a great way to get into the mix with scoring in a league, because everyone that completes their respective race, no matter what position they finish, scores for their club. The points scored are calculated after each fixture. After the final fixture the league results are totalled up and the winners are crowned.
The fixtures for this season are:
Sat 15 October - Met League : Claybury
Sat 22 October - SEAA Cross Country Relays : Wormwood Scrubs
Sun 23 October - Sunday League : Chestnut
Sat 12 November - Met League : Stevenage
Sat 19 November - London Cross Country Championships : Parliament Hill
Sun 13 November - Sunday League : Grovelands
Sat 3 December - Met League : Wormwood Scrubs
Sat 10 December - SEAA Cross Country Masters & Inter Counties Championships : Horspath Track, Oxford
Sun 18 December - Sunday League : Willian or Stevenage
Sat 14 January - Met League : Trent Park
Sat 28 January - SEAA Cross Country Main Championships: Venue TBC but probably Parliament Hill
Sun 15 January - Sunday League : Watford
Sat 11 February - Met League : Alexandra Palace
Sun 12 February - Sunday League : Royston
Sat 25 February - English National Cross Country Championships : Wollaton Park, Nottingham
So plenty of opportunity to get your spikes or trail shoes out and come and join us at XC this season, and you too could be standing in the snow in a park in Watford, covered in mud and eating cake.
Why wouldn't you?
