Civil Service Cross
Country Championships
Wednesday 12.10.16
Parliament Hill Fields
London
The CSAA Cross Country
Championships were once again held on what some runners would say is the
spiritual home of British Cross Country running – Parliament Hill Fields which
has seen a number of great English National Cross Country Championships over the
years. I personally remember 1981 when the ground was over ankle deep with mud
and the course was 9 miles. That was when Julian Goater floated over the ground
to win by minutes from a chasing Dave Moorcroft who missed the start and had to
work his way through the entire field.
This year the contrast could not have been different with
the ground rock hard and crumbling in places with the potential to turn an
ankle if an unlucky runner misplaced their foot. As for mud it was certainly
hard to find despite the best efforts of the course markers.
The entry of 135 athletes was positively encouraging and
with 120 finishers numbers are holding up well and it was really good to see a
number of new Departments taking part and even winning medals. Once the race
commenced the Women had two laps to compete and the Men three and very soon a
few were making their intentions known.
In the Women’s race, ultra-distance runner Jo Meek was
pulling clear of English Fell International, Nichola Jackson to complete an MoD
1 – 2 with last year’s winner, Emily Antcliffe (DWP) in 3rd place. In
the Men’s race Patrick Vis, making his debut gradually pulled away to finish 1st
ahead of another debutant, Sam Allin of DWP with previous winner Mike Cummings
in 3rd.
In the Team competition
MoD took the Women’s title with HMRC the Men’s. MINERVA won the Women’s Masters
title whilst the Men’s 35 – 49 title went to the Welsh Government with DWP
taking the Masters 50+ award.
The Masters'
individual awards saw a number of very good athletes taking their respective
categories and it was a pleasure to welcome the CSAA President, Marian Holmes,
to undertake the awards ceremony.
Thanks go to all those
who assisted with the organisation of the event and to the runners who
supported the race which makes it all worthwhile. If you receive a post-race
survey, please complete and return as it assists us in ironing out any flaws in
the organisation. Finally, if you wish to become involved with the CSAA
Committee please contact Nick Hume.
Nick Hume
CSAA Secretary