Southern Inter County Cross Country 2016

Recent events, trying times and a nasty cold came together on Saturday 10th December to smash Robbie for six. A very poor performance with Robbie feeling out of it from the go. Hampshire battled forward with great performances from Zac Mahamaed (2nd) and Lachlan Wellington (4th) helping Hampshire to the Team Gold, unfortunately Robbie’s 5th place in Hampshire, 28th overall was insufficient to score and dropped him out of the winning team. More work needed to get that fitness up, more determination needed to battle through the little things, but improvement is still on the cards, and 2017 threatens to be a much better year than 2016. No more races now until the new Year, so plenty of time to get back on track in advance of the big races in early 2017.

Hampshire U17M. Gold Medalists (First 4 Score)

02: Zakariya Mahamed(Southampton)15:41
04: Lachlan Wellington(City of Portsmouth)15:47
15: Samuel Tyas(Southampton)16:21
24: Jacob O’Hara(City of Portsmouth)16:38
28: Robbie Coupland(Aldershot, Farnham and District)16:41
71: Max Satterly(Southampton)17:44
79: James Porter(Basingstoke and Mid Hants)17:54
91: Steven Cross(City of Portsmouth)18:41

Team U17M Placings.
1: Hampshire – 2,4,15,24 = 45
2: Hertfordshire – 1,6,14,40 = 61
3: Surrey – 3,16,20,29 = 68

Robbie chasing behind the leading pack about 1500m in.

Robbie chasing behind the leading pack about 1500m in.

Popham Airfield – Hampshire League (2016/7) 3 of 5

A chilly day at Popham, but not as cold as forecast, and none of the threatened rain to wetten the ground. Another good day for AFD in the Hampshire League, securing the following team positions;

Ind. 1st Place in U13G, U20W, SenW, U13B, U20M, SenM, VetM

Team 1st Place in U15B and U17M as well as all the above races, also securing 2nd in U15G, 5th in U17W and 6th in VetW. So all in all, a great team day out.

Robbie ran a strong race in the U17M finishing at the leading edge of an AFD pack, coming over the line in 6th followed by Max Heyden, Ollie Percival and Marcus Shantry giving AFD 6,7,8 and 9th place finishes. A good solid time of 17:17 for the shortened course, down to 5km instead of the previous years 6km. A little dissapointed with his position on the day, but given that his best ever performance at Popham was 5th, he was running at about par, the long straight gentle slopes not suiting his running style at all. The race was started at a flying pace with Zac Mahemed taking the lead from the gun, and never relinquishing it, after building a good gap it was up to Lachlan Wellington to chase him down, closing the gap but not enought owrestle the first place spot, with 800m to go Matt Rawlings from Reading stepped up and started to break the chasing pack, the AFD boys dropping off the pcae as Matt, Sam Tyes and Jacob O’Hara pulled away, a flying finish from Matt securing his 3rd place finish.

Dash down the Finishing Straight, end of Lap 1.

Dash down the Finishing Straight, End of Lap 1.