Walthamstow AC made their annual pilgrimage to the darkest depths of South
London in this annual race that incorporates the Surrey AAA 5K champs and
usually gets a very competitive turnout with the likes of Belgrave and
Thames Hare & Hounds turning up.  Nick started off well and moved into 5th
by the 1st k and was frustratingly close to the front of the field for most
of the way round until the fear of South London overcame his trembling knees
at the 3.5k mark and he finished in 6th in 16.02, 5 seconds quicker than
last year and 4 places higher.  Jim, who usually “doesn’t go
south-of-the-river-mate” put in the performance of the day with a sizzling
16.35 to finish 15th,8 seconds quicker than last year and one place higher.  
He was closely followed by another strong run from Dan who dipped under 17
minutes for 16.50 and 18th.  Dan is to be congratulated for eating both
before and after the race and not being violently sick afterwards, clearly
the Ridley-diet is doing it’s trick.  Plucky mid-fielder Colin drew up
Walthamstow from the back with a reasonable 17.26 for 30th.  Though unhappy
with his run, Colin downed his blues in true champagne-socialist style by
gorging himself on the most expensive meal available in the local Italian
(Monkfish with champagne sauce).

The team did considerably better than last year coming 4th out of 31 teams
with a points score of 39, just 10 off the winners Belgrave Harriers.  We
were also just 3 points away from both Stragglers and Hercules Wimbledon who
got 36 points each.  Considering these 3 clubs are all local and one is
meant to be “premier-league” East London did good.  Members of the 27 teams
we beat are advised to contact C.Ridley for urgent coaching assistance…………

Runner        Pos:    Time:
Nick        6th    16.03
Jim        15th    16.35
Dan        18th    16.50
Colin        30th    17.26

1st 2nd 3rd Total 1st 2nd 3rd Total
1 Belgrave H 5 11 13 29
2 Stragglers AC 2 12 22 36
3 Hercules Wimb AC 3 8 25 36
4 Walthamstow AC 6 15 18 39
5 Ranelagh H 9 23 34 66
6 Clapham Chasers 21 27 31 79
7 Sutton R 19 30 38 87
8 Elmbridge RR 10 37 41 88
9 Hercules Wimb AC "B" 26 28 36 90
10 Striders of Croydon 14 45 48 107

Immodest report written in the style of Jeremy Clarkson by Nick Shasha superb 6th in a course pb, 1st North Londoner.
 

11th Colin Read 19.03   17th Danny Rose v40 19.29

98th Bryan Newman v50 23.24   138th Terry Wellard v50 25.41

162nd Roger Attwood v40 28.23

Team 264pts, 11th

A good club turnout on a perfect night for running resulted in an enjoyable evening all round. Colin led the team home with a great performance & pb. Danny, Bryan (another pb), Terry and Roger also ran faster than last time.

5th Danny Rose v40 36.47

7th Colin Read 37.04   

59th  Bryan Newman v50 45.40

Two weeks of rain before this race meant it was always going to be tricky going!! The course is probably lovely on a fine summers day, however the gallant Walthamstow '3' were met by very humid conditions (rain) and pleasant country paths were filled with water! But it is a very pleasant, well run event, done in the 'amateur' spirit of running.

Danny just kept ahead of Colin to claim 2nd vets position and Bryan also ran well to claim 2nd super-vet. Though the times were slower than expected, the course conditions had a big effect overall.

19th Nick Shasha 34.03

Nick started off cautiously as he was getting over a cough and cold, but pulled through well, shaking off (literally) the Egyptian as pictured above.

26th Colin Read 19.49   30th Danny Rose v40 20.00

58th Dave Bamford 21.10    95th Neil Douglas 22.57

118th Bryan Newman v50 23.54   157th Ian Russell v50 26.33

175th Roger Attwood v40 28.40

Team 209pts, 8th

A good club turnout on a perfect night for running resulted in an enjoyable evening all round. Colin led the team home with Dave, Neil & Bryan all setting pb's. Good to see Ian back running after his marathon exploits and even more amazing to see Mr Roger Attwood returning to the race scene - lets hope he returns to the training scene also!!

6th Nick Shasha 55.52

17th Danny Rose v40 58.11

31st Colin Read 60.53

Team 54pts 3rd Essex Champs, Danny Rose 5th Vets v40

For the first time for many, many years, Walthamstow entered a competitive team in the County 10 mile Champs and yes we were glorious, stunning the mighty Essex Clubs with a cheeky 3rd place out of the 74 teams.

Team members are just waiting for the invite to the Town Hall to receive the Freedom of the Borough!

Conditions were ideal which helped the field of 724 immensely.

5km road race

18th Danny Rose v40 17:05

25th Colin Read 17:30

135th Ian Russell v50 21:32

v40 men 18th Danny Rose 38.02

v60 men 3rd Roger Berry  35.43

v55 Ladies 1st Pauline Rich 42.13

Pauline retained her crown in fine style, while Roger had not got enough fitness back after injury to do himself justice. Danny who is also on the comeback trail started way down and pulled through to a reasonable 18th.

3rd Danny Rose 30.56  28th John Gardiner 38.25  29th Ian Russell 38.59

The Walthamstow vets stretched their legs in this annual event over the traditional course.

A pleasant afternoon was had by all courtesy of Loughton AC.

14th Nick Shasha 33.5?

Nick took on the World's elite in extremely hot conditions in this high profile race through some of London's most famous roads.

Never mind a prize, free entry to next years race would be valuable enough!

17th Danny Rose v40 17.23   40th Dave Bamford 18.25

151 Bryan Newman v50 21.24   178th Terry Wellard v55 22.36

Another large field of 230 ran in perfect conditions at the riverside course. The course had changed slightly to improve the finish area/position which may have extended the course slightly as most people reported being slower than before.

 The famous 'turning point' bucket once again re-appeared because the previous races 'patio umbrella stand', was not ratified by the IAAF in Geneva at the recent World 'turning point' ratification standards (all expenses paid) committee convention.

It seems the it was about to be accepted as a world standard when a lone male figure in a Paula Radcliffe dress made an emotional plea that the 'bucket' had Worldwide symbolism but the 'patio umbrella stand' just looked amateurish. Rather than upset the leader of 'PR obsessed fan club' (membership of 1) - the IAAF decided to wait till the next convention when the police could be waiting for the strangely dressed male with long socks. 

6th 'Lord' Jim Rochester-Leytonton-Fortesque-Orient 36.24

12th Danny Rose v40 37.39   20th Colin Read 40.10   35th Dave Bamford 42.12

 Walthamstow's 'elite' gave this race a go for the first time. A fast first mile followed by some tough hills meant most found the last 5km very tough indeed. Lord Jim rose to the challenge and had a great run coming home 6th out of the field of 384. Danny got round and managed to claim the 3rd veteran prize.

12th Danny Rose v40 19:01

48th Dave Bamford 21:13

137th Terry Wellard v55 25:33

Another good sized field fought through traffic jams to make the start. Sadly the Stow were one person short for a team.

12  Dey Wilson 16.53      16 Danny Rose v40 16.59

138 Jay Samuel v40 20.42    153 Bryan Newman v50 21.05

The largest ever field in the Assembly League (251) raced over the 'out and back' 5km race in a perfect spring evening. Dey got a lead at the start which Danny could never claw back, Jay made the start with seconds to spare but ran well and Bryan shook the London out of his legs with a strong performance.

6 Jim Roache 34.45       8 Danny Rose 35.54

10 Nick Shasha      11 Dey Wilson   Dave Bamford

Five Walthamstow runners met the challenge of this multi-terrain course. A mixture of grass, gravel, rough paths, road and mud over an undulating course, gave the race a tough edge. Nick led the charge, but fell back eventually as his disease ravaged body developed yet more complications. Jim ran strongly (apart from toilet stops) to lead the team home. Dave Bamford ran his best ever 10km. Walthamstow easily won the team competition, though prizes seem to be very slow in arriving!

9 D Rose 35.45   18 C Read 38.00   42 J Samuels 42.52

47 J Gardner 44.33   50 R Middleton 45.33  60 T Wellard 48.36

This annual fixture held at Victoria Park had a field of 70 runners from VPH, Orion, Eton Manor and Walthamstow. Most were conscious that they would be racing on Tuesday night as well in the Chingford League so took it relatively easy.

This race is held to remember Mike Penman, a Victoria Park athlete who was tragically killed whilst running. Mike's family always lay on a wonderful 'spread' after the race and the spirit of running is to the fore, something I am sure that would delight Mike.

1st Nick Shasha 33min 10sec

Nick won by 33seconds to record the biggest win of his career so far.

5th Danny rose 29:25 6th Daniel Moses 30:38 9th Johnny Wallis 30:52

36th Jeff Fowler 36:01 40th Dave Bamford 36:17 45th John Gardiner 36:58

66th Clive Ridley 41:36

A mixed Walthamstow team (including some 'friends') enjoyed a bitterly cold, dry afternoon at Loughton. Victoria Park dominated the race and easily won the Cup. Walthamstow was 4th.

Mens v40 10th Danny Rose 29.04

Mens v60 1st Roger Berry 32.34

Ladies v60 1st Pauline Rich 39.30

12th Nick Shasha 33.37    21st Danny Rose 34.25    32nd Dey Wilson 35.18

Still, cold weather greeted the 500 runners for the Essex Championship over the pleasantly undulating one-lap country lane course. Nick went with the pace but found it was a very fast start with eventual winner Adrian Musset of Colchester storming away to win in 31.41. Nick, Danny and Dey all ran well, with Danny just holding onto 3rd place in the Essex Veterans category. The Walthamstow team ended up 7th on the day, just 11 points from a medal. Nick started the build up for next year with custard tarts all round for the Walthamstow 7th-urions!

Multi Club Mob Match at Chingford, 19/11/05

6.25 mile Cross Country

48th Jeff Fowler 48.22    54th Ray Middleton 49.04    65th Jay Samuel 51.07

67th John Gardiner 51.31    74th Ian Russell 52.33    94th Terry Wellard 58.02 

107 Runners from Orion, Eton Manor, Broxbourne, Springfield, Bank Of England and Walthamstow enjoyed a traditional "short" Orion course in cold bright conditions. Jeff led the team home.

Assembly League at Victoria Park, 4/08/05

3.5 mile road race

16th Danny Rose 18.37     37th Colin Read 20.41    45th Pavel Reban 21.00

101st John Gardiner 23.20    126th Terry Wellard 25.08

127th Ian Russell 25.21     165th Steve Russell 30.13    Ray Middleton DNF

172 runners, excellent conditions. Good debut for Pavel and a great improvement by John - 2 minutes!

Assembly League at Victoria Park, 2/06/05

3.5 mile road race

7th Danny Rose 18.25     30th Colin Read 19.59    109th Jay Samuel 23.03

117th Ray Middleton 23.25    122nd R Sandel  23.37     126th Ian Russell 23.53

132nd Bryan Newman 24.04     152nd M Facey 25.11    161st John Gardiner 25.32

202 runners, excellent conditions.

Ware Cup at Loughton, 11/12/04