News 2005
Holly Run Reigate Priory
The Holly Run in Reigate's Priory Park on 18th December provided a popular pre Christmas race for many of our athletes. Currently enjoying the form of her young life, 11 year old Emelia Gorecka not only beat the u/13 course record by 31secs, but also finished ahead of all the under 15 girls. Timed at 11mins 48secs for the 2 miles, with Hannah Fay 5th in 12.40 and Cora Harrison 6th (12.43) DMV easily won the team Gold medals. The under 17's raced over 3 miles alongside the under 20's and senior ladies with Zoe Shannon running strongly to place 2nd in 19.35. The team were 2nd as Vicky Holt in elf costume was 8th (24.34) and sprinter Lesley-Anne Ellis 9th (27.23). The under 15 and under 17 boys saw DMV's rapidly improving Luke Caldwell take 2nd place in the u/15 category in 17.14 for the 3 miles. Tim Elsey led the senior team into 2nd place as he took 7th in 34mins 07 for the six miles which includes 3 times up and down the steep hills on the 3 lap course. Speedy M45 Andy Fay took the silver medal for the veteran's category in 17th position (36.40) with M40 Howard Jones 3rd team counter in 38.07 (22nd). Full results can be found on The Holly Run website .
Southern Inter-Counties Cross Country
Seven of our junior runners were selected for the Surrey teams for this years Southern Inter-Counties races at RAF Barnham, near Thetford, Suffolk. The under 15 Boys competed over 4,500m with Luke Caldwell making his county debut having a slow start but coming through very strongly to take 13th place in 13mins 26secs (2nd Surrey runner). Josh Gorecki was 16th in 13.34 but with the 4th scorer down in 41st position the team missed a medal by 2 points. In contrast Surrey completely dominated the under 13 Girls race with 5 finishers in the first 10 and all their team of 8 in the top half of the field. First year runner Emelia Gorecka had another superb run to take 3rd place behind Kent's Camilla Freeman this year's National and South of England Champion, in a time of 11mins 58secs for the 3,000m. Although starting well and running positively, Hannah Fay lost ground towards the end to finish in 13mins dead (34th). The under 17 Ladies raced over 5,000m with Zoe Shannon losing a few places on the run in as she recorded 21mins 31 (17th), the first Surrey runner. Becky Gardner was unlucky to drop out with an injury, while Georgie Bruinvels declined selection to play lacrosse for the England u/19 team.
Central Surrey Schools Championships
In this years Central Surrey Schools Championships on Epsom Downs Emelia Gorecka easily won the Junior girls race in 7mins 42secs, although she is too young for the Surrey schools race in February. Hannah Fay finished 3rd in 8mins 22 with Pippa Simon recording 9mins 17. In the Inter Girls competition Ashcombe's Becky Gardner had no difficulty in coming home first in 13mins 05, with Beccie Beale gradually getting back from over 6 months out with injury taking 7th position in 14.21. Josh Gorecki easily won the Inter-Boys race in 14.30 with Evan Erskine-Thomas timed at 16mins (4th).
UKA Cross Challenge
The UKA Cross Challenge series at Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath provided more success for 2 of Dorking and Mole Valley AC’s talented girls. Under 13 Emelia Goeecka was involved in a close sprint for 2nd place with Aldershot’s Beth Hubbard and Emily Fisher from Chesterfield – the 3rd time they had clashed in the past 4 weeks. On this occasion she lost out by a couple of seconds in a time of 11mins 16secs for the 3,000m, but is joint 2nd overall. In the ladies under 17/20 race over 5,000m Georgie Bruinvels had a superb result taking 3rd place behind 2 highly rated athletes in a good time of 19mins 47secs.
Junior Successes
Dorking and Mole Valley AC's under 13 Girls go from strength to strength with their latest performance reaching a new high. In the National Cross Country Relay Championships at Mansfield they were a magnificent 5th out of 88 teams. On the first leg Emelia Gorecka had a good start and was 6th at half way before moving into 4th place only 3 secs behind the second runner in a time of 7mins 28secs for the 2000m of undulating parkland and woods with its many twists and turns. Also running really positively Cora Harrison held 2nd position for a while and was still a close up 4th at the end with the Team Manager beginning to dream of a shock medal (7.57). Although never quite in touch with the 2nd and 3rd teams, Hannah Fay held her form well before being caught on the line by a fast finishing girl from Royal Sutton Coldfield one of the top 2 junior clubs in Britain. It was great to hear DMV repeatedly mentioned on the race commentary - quite a few clubs now know where Mole Valley is!
Having her 2nd race in consecutive days Hannah Fay took the silver medal in 10mins 06 at an Open Meeting on Frimley Heath. Racing over 2550m of tricky woodland terrain she secured her place in the Surrey team for the Southern Inter-Counties to be held in Suffolk in December. Also chosen for Surrey for the first time after finishing 3rd in the under 15 Boys race over 3900m (13.27) Luke Caldwell was rewarded for his hard work in training this year.
Leatherhead Fire Station 10k
The Leatherhead Fire Station 10K proved very popular with 492 finishers including 23 DMV runners of all ages and standards. At the sharp end Tim Elsey was 3rd in 34.10, with Andy Fay 13th (1st over 45) in 36.29 and M40 Howard Jones completing the winning team in 16th position (38.21). See the Results page for further club results
A.G.M.
The A.G.M. was held on Thursday 17th November in the Clubhouse at 8.30pm. Over 30 members attended. Peter Bruinvels was elected as our new Club President. Howard Jones has joined the Committee and Viv Parrott stood down. Subscriptions are to remain the same as last year.
Cross Country Season 2005-2006
As we approach the end of the summer most of us will now turn our attention for the next six months to cross country. The club competes in two leagues during the winter months - the Surrey Cross Country League and the East Surrey League. The men are in division 3 and the ladies are in division 1 of the Surrey cross country league. There are a total of four races in the league, October, November, January and February and they are held at different locations in the county. The men's races are all 5 miles and the ladies are about 6km. In previous years we have done reasonably well in the men's league. Last year we went into the last race with a chance of finishing second overall as we had a very strong team in the last race. Unfortunately we missed several people earlier in the season and we ended the season in a very good 3rd place, by only a couple of points.
For the men's races we at least 10 runners, but the more people we get the better. The club really does need everyone who can run to turn out for these events; as we found out last year, having a low turnout for one race can affect the final position. Theses races are good fun, because as well as running against the other clubs we have our own internal rivalry trying to stay ahead of friends.
As well as the league races we also compete in the Surrey County Championships, the South of England (SOE) Championships and the National Cross Country Championships. The county champs are at Lloyd Park (everyone's favourite). It is one of the few times when everyone is running at the same venue and the club benefits form the support given by those competing during the day, and gives everyone great team spirit. This year the SOE championships will be held at Bicton College, Exmounth. I know many of you will say 'how far', but a couple of years ago the championships were also held here at this great venue in front of the college and the lake. Whilst some people made the journey in the day, a larger group of us stayed in a nearby bed and breakfast, and we all had a great weekend away, with a nice meal out in the local pub in the evening. The Nationals this year will be held at Parliament Hill London, and for most of us this is the usual venue for the SOE champs.
The East Surrey League is made up for four races, with two this year including a cross country relay and cross country race at Lloyd Park. The races are open for everyone and we all run together both men and women with great team spirit. The two races next year are a road relay and a five mile road race.
The men's team manager is Nick Hodges and the women's is Dave Stead, so if anyone wants to get involved please help us out by letting us know, as it will save us a lot of time chasing people. So final note, its time to hunt out those spikes, remove the mud from last year and get them ready for the start of the season in October.
Pippa Whitehouse sets new Gribdale Gallop record
Top orienteer and club member Pippa Whitehouse knocked 20 seconds off Catherine Hare's 3 year old record Gribdale Gallop race record, recording a time of 57:05 in the hilly 7.5 mile race and coming in over 3 minutes ahead of veteran Alison Row with Skipton's Sarah Glover in 3rd place. The men's race was won by Paul Lowe in 49:14.