M50 at the British Middle Championships 2009
- Details
- Created: Wednesday, 24 June 2009 09:42
- Written by James Crawford GO
2009 British Middle Distance Championship - on the 10th May at Cademan & Thringstone (LEI).
Unusually the leader of the M50 class changed hands 8 times during the course of just 4.9km. This is the (virtual) tale.
Start to Control 1
Charles Daniel BOK storms into an early lead, 1 second ahead of Paul Addison DVO in second position and 5 seconds ahead of 3rd place Mark Saunders BOK.
Control 1 2
Charles early success turns to tragedy as he fails to find control 2. He is the second slowest of all M50s and relinquishes the lead to BOC Classic Distance Champion Mark Saunders, 8 seconds up on Paul Addison and 19 seconds ahead of Bruce Bryant OD.
Control 2 3
Positions stay the same. Crawford has suffered an early contact lens and brain problem and is 2 mins. 46 sec. down in 26th position.
Control 3 4
Errors by the leading three in a vague semi-open area butting onto thick forest let in Paul Thornton CLOK who is fastest on this leg and takes a 5 sec. lead over an improving Ian Ditchfield MV with Maurice Calvert a further 14 secs. behind.
Control 4 5
Positions stay the same.
Control 5 6
A small error by Paul en-route to 6 is punished by Ian Ditchfield who takes the lead and will hold it until control 19. Paul will stay in 2nd position to control 12. Maurice concedes 3rd spot to Bruce Bryant.
Control 6 11
Ian, Paul, and Bruce maintain their positions to control 11.
Control 11 - 12
Kevin Harding HH passes Bruce Bryant and takes the 3rd slot.
Control 12 13
Kevin Harding overtakes Paul Thornton to take 2nd. Ian 1, Kevin 2, Paul 3. Crawford has clawed his way back to 6th position nearly 4 minutes down on the leader.
Control 13 19
Ian still leads, Kevin is 2nd, Paul is 3rd. Crawford drops to 8th, 4 mins. 37 secs. behind the leader.
Control 19 20
Ian makes a bad mistake, an initial mistake compounded by failing to see a path obscured by the control circle on the map, loses 4½ minutes and drops out of the top 3. Kevin Harding takes a 3 sec. lead over Paul and Bruce moves up to 3rd, 1 min. 19 secs. down on the leader.
Control 20 22
Positions maintained. Kevin has a 5 sec. lead over Paul and 2 min. 01 sec. over Bruce. Crawford still in 8th but reduces the deficit to 3 min. 17 secs.
Control 22 23
Paul makes an error of 1 min. in an area of low visibility and small ditches. Kevin Harding takes a 57 sec. lead over Paul and Bruce closes the gap at 3rd to 1 min. 43 secs. Ian is recovering and is just 54 seconds behind Bruce in 4th place.
Control 23 24
Positions stay the same. Crawford is clawing back time on the leading 3.
Control 24 25
Into the rhododendrons. Many people lose time here. Kevin misses 25 and so does Paul. Bruce overtakes them both to go into the lead ahead of Kevin. Crawford has the fastest leg finding and taking the safe route and passes Paul to take 3rd position.
Control 25 26
Bruce retains the lead through the rhodes. But Crawford again has the fastest leg, the winter endurance training is paying dividends, and overtakes Kevin with a 3 second margin but is 44 secs. behind Bruce.
Control 26 27
Bruce makes a mistake, fails to find a deep depression cleanly and is passed by Crawford. First time in the lead with about 200 metres to go. Kevin also makes a mistake and is passed by Ian Ditchfield.
Control 27 Finish
A short leg to 28 and the finish - Crawford is Champion, Bruce Bryant takes Silver and Ian Ditchfield takes Bronze.
Morale tis never over til the final dib. (and train in the winter!).