We hear from Peter S. and Colin B. (in his Snorbans vest) – James as ever is represented by a whooshing noise!
Peter S:
A good & varied XC course, less boggy than on some previous occasions at Parliament Hill. Less mud on the legs than at Hillingdon for the South of England AA but mud is preferable to a frozen course that I and any other county championship runner experienced on 10 January.

I thought I struggled through the boggy parts but then who didn’t and was wary of the possibility of leaving a shoe behind so changed my stride a little. Seemed to notice more participants walking the hills on the 2nd lap whilst I kept going. Finished with too much to spare I thought helped by the easier 2nd half of the last lap. Use to running 15K instead of 12K on this course.

There was a very long queue in the showers which remained hot for the first time possibly as a result of the refit a few years back or likely due to the women’s changing being transferred to the Harringay Athletic Club facilities rather than the lido? Thought I may have missed James Meldrum but on ringing him he was still at the rather deserted finish with his Liverpool club colleague who were staying overnight but not on Hampstead Heath. James made the long walk over to the Lido for a brief chat. We hope to meet him again at the London Marathon and maybe repeat our post-marathon social at the Chinese & pub?

The 25/26 April is going to be a busy weekend for me in London with the national anti-vivisection event on Saturday to mark World Day for Laboratory Animals.

Colin B
It was a nice day for it, and not as boggy as the Southerns – my spikes were crunching somewhat on some of the drier bits of track, although there were quite a few quagmires. Spotted Peter at the start. Looks as if James had a better run than we did, what a surprise!

My last Cross Country will be the Orion 15 on March 21st, which is a bit like two Nationals back-to-back.

Both busy as ever – good going guys!