The Beefeater Ampthill Trophy used to be a very significant UK cross country race, second only to Gateshead. Since 1998 the meeting has gradually faded from memory. I decided to put the Beefeater Trophy back in its rightful place and set about gathering what was written at the time. The Bedfordshire press had a strong connection with the race because it sponsored the ‘Bedfordshire County Press Trophy’ that rewarded the 1st Under 15 Boy. This means that the Bedfordshire Times had a vested interest in reporting the meet.
In September 2015 a visit to the Bedfordshire and Luton Archive found that the Bedfordshire Times still exists up to 1990 on microfiche. A couple of reels are missing and the quality is far from good, not helped by the aged readers. However, it was possible to locate the race report for most years. I have re-typed these for ease of reading.
The race reports have a ‘local perspective’ which is no great surprise given that Bedford and County AC hosted the meetings, competed and the press was from Bedford.
Luton United AC’s international Tony Simmons dominated in the early years. In 1981 10,000 world record holder David Bedford competed, and the success of Liz Yelling (née Talbot) and Paula Radcliffe is reported from 1985 and 1987 respectively. Both went onto win the Senior Women’s race in the 1990s. The 1997 results record Mo Farah winning the U15 Boy’s race.
In 1989 and 1990 the Ampthill Trophy meeting incorporated the ‘Milka Toblerone International Veterans Championships.’ The Veteran Men’s race topped a thousand entries!
1974
The first Ampthill Trophy meeting on Sunday, part sponsored by the Bedford County Press, won’t be the last. Athletes, 550 of them from clubs as far apart as Farnham in the South and Rossendale in the North, and spectators who came to Ampthill Park in good numbers, all rated it a great meeting – a “must” for the local sporting calendar.
Most delighted – and rightly so – were organiser Bedford and County AC, who not only ensured the smooth running of the nine events, but won four of them and 42 of the 102 medals – a fantastic achievement.
The Minor Girls Trophy for under 13s went to Bedford in champion style in a field of 80 from 11 clubs. The local team saw Alison Clifford in 1st, Sharon Gough 2nd, only 20 secs behind and Janet Pannell.
April Langley’s third place was best for Bedford in the under 15 race for the Ampthill News Cup, but backing Sukie Tugulu and Janette Steele was good enough to take the team award again.
The intermediate ladies race for under-17s revealed Bedford’s weakness, with no entries at all, as was the case for the Texas Ladies event for seniors. The club was still desperately sportswomen in these age groups.
First and second places for Andrew Buck and Gareth Spring backed by Andrew McNielage, gave Bedford the Colts Trophy for boys under 12. Rossendale showed their complete mastery in the under 14 event for the Bedford County Press Cup with a team so far unbeaten.
(Source unknown)
An Afternoon of a little ecstasy and a lot of agony
While most of us were settling down to a quiet afternoon on Sunday 550 cross-country runners were putting us to shame in Ampthill Park. The athletes were taking part in the Ampthill Cross Country Trophy Meeting organised by Bedford and County Athletic Club and sponsored by the Bedford County Press, Ampthill Town Council and Texas Instruments.
Clubs took part from as far away as Farnham and Aldershot in the south, to Lowestoft in the east and Wakefield and Rossendale in the north.
Bedford and County Athletic Club were well represented among the winners. A.Buck won the boys’ under 12 event for them in a time of 7:07 for the 1¼ mile course. G.Spring, also of the home club, was second and Bedford took the team prize in this event. They were equally successful with the under-12 girls with A.Clifford and S.Gough coming in first and second to give them the team prize again.
The girls’ under-15 team event also went to the host club with A.Langley coming in third for them. Good placings helped the Bedford youth team take the first team prize despite getting only one runner in the first three.
The grassy slopes of Ampthill Park proved a stern challenge to many of the runners, especially the less experienced ones in the lower age groups and more than one competitor was led away at the end distraught from the pain. At the other end of the scale, the meeting attracted some big names, Tony Simmons, European silver medalist, showed the field the way home in the big event, the men’s senior race which attracted a large entry of high quality runners.
Second over the five-mile course was Mike Beever, also of Luton, and European and Commonwealth Marathon champion Ian Thompson took time off from signing autographs for young hopefuls to come a third and complete a clean sweep for the Luton club.
The event attracted a large number of spectators, with young and old, and after the last event the prizes were awarded in Parkside Hall by Jim Nottingham, Chairman of Ampthill Town Council.
Click – for more about the inaugural race and the prize winners.
1975 – Tactical 1, 2
Thanks to a tactical switch Luton United Athletic Club’s “A” and “B” teams first and second in the senior men’s race at the Ampthill Trophy cross-country meeting on Sunday. Luton’s top cross country man, and European 5,000 metre champion, Tony Simmons, ran for the club’s “B” team. And thanks to his first place they pipped Bedford for second spot, while Luton’s “A” string took the first team prize, because of better grouping.
It was a double triumph for Simons who won the race last year. This time he beat an entry of 150 to come in 42 seconds Jerry Odlin, of North London AC. His time for the 5 mile course was 26 min 9 secs.
Despite overnight rain, the course was still very firm, too firm in fact for the liking of some runners.
Probably the greatest favourite with the large crowd of spectators and athletes was Ian Thompson, of Luton, who had to be content with fifth place in the men’s race. Five miles was just a “warming up” distance for him!
Bedford and County had no winners but there were several performances of note: A.Buck, a close second in the boys’ under 13 race; Philip Odell (7th), and Martin McCarthy (9th) in the senior men; Angela Gough 5th) in the intermediate ladies. In the team events the club managed two seconds and a third.
Click – for the 1975 prize winners.
1976 – 1,000 contest trophy meeting
Despite a clash with a big event in Bristol, the Ampthill Trophy staged on Sunday in Ampthill by Bedford and County AC was a huge success with an entry in advance of 1,000.
Bedford and County teams were placed in five of the eight events, and their was exceptional runs from Ingram in the senior men’s event. Goodwin in the U13 boys, West in the junior ladies, and Ferguson, Sullivan and Brown in the U13 girls.
Click – for the 1976 prize winners.
1977
Click – for the 1977 prize winners.
1978 – Big entry for cross country meeting
Bedford and County Athletic Club has drawn a massive entry of nearly 2,500 runners for the fifth annual Ampthill Trophy Cross Country meeting on Sunday at Ampthill Park, making this now the second biggest club event in the country, only bettered by Gateshead.
Meeting organiser David Spring has a big job enshrining that everything runs smoothly on the day, starting with the under 11 girls’ event in which 100 competitors will set off at 12:30, through to the veterans and seniors event at 3:30pm.
The senior men’s race includes last year’s winner and English international John Wigley as well as Julian Goater, Mike Beever and Ian Thompson, the latter having just returned from second place in the New York marathon.
In the senior women’s race, Jane Cole has entered. She ran second in the final of the Commonwealth 800m. Also down to run is Kathy Binns of Sale.
Possibly the best race of the day will be the youths, where the top club in the age group in the country Aldershot, Farnham and District take on Tipton Harriers and to add spice six of the eight schoolboy internationals are entered for their respective clubs.
Bedford and County AC are grateful to all sponsors. The presentation of the awards will be in Parkside Hall by the Town Mayor of Ampthill, Coun Peter Cruise.
Click – for the 1978 prize winners.
1979 – Leaders in a last lap mix-up
The Ampthill senior cross country race had an unusual ending in every way in Sunday. The crowd, estimated at 5,000 blocked the view of the leaders on the final lap and they carried on past the finish. But quick thinking got the first 40 back into the funnels and the leaders were soon sorted out for the presentation of awards by the Mayor of Ampthill, Coun Frank Pinny.
Tony Simmons duly won a television set but it was the Bedford club, through Martin McCarthy, Mike Shotbolt and Russell Dennehy, who won the team awards with 38 points.
The senior race ending was the only problem at the meeting. Depressing weather did not deter nearly 2,000 athletes from taking part in what was the sixth of the annual meetings to be promoted by Bedford and County AC.
The local club started well with Nicola Dilley gaining a second place in the opening under 11 girls’ race. Laura Willards and Fay Harvey backed up well and a score of 23 easily gave them the team award.
They were followed by the under 11 boys, who collected yet another set of trophies when they finished second to their Leicester conquerors, Wolverhampton and Bristol AC. Owen Russell was Bedford’s first home narrowly beating Stephen Smith for seventh place. A particularly good run in this race was that of Robin Hickson in 35th place.
Bedford fielded 161 of the 16 under 13 girls but were not among the medals, although Michelle Brown’s 18th place was a big improvement.
Click – for the 1979 prize winners.
1980 – Stunning finish
No wonder the runner pictures below in Saturday’s Ampthill cross-country meeting is looking over his shoulder. There he was, finishing the veterans’ section of the race, when suddenly appeared the runners of the under-11 race.
But having the two races finish at the same time was planned. “When we split the veterans’ race from the seniors, we knew that some of the veterans would still be running when the under-11 girls finished,” said one of the race organisers. “We had two sets of recorders and time keepers. It was easy to tell the two sets of runners apart, so it all went to plan.”
Runner 108 in the picture, D.Cobley of Aylesbury, was 40th of the 121 veteran runners, while 557, Fay Harvey of Bedford, was tenth in the race.
The event continues to grow in stature each year. The number of runners in the eleven races was only just short of the two thousand mark, an increase of 300 on last year, and things were also helped by the fine weather which blessed the race.
Bedford’s successes came in the senior men’s race with second team place, Mike Shotbolt sixth, Philip Odell sixteenth and Mark Goodwin in nineteenth place.
In the junior ladies, Jenny Hickson’s very good seventh place backed up by Susan Lawrence (21st) and Michelle Brown (27th) gave them second team placing, only seven points behind Bromsgrove and Redditch AC.
Fine running by the under 13 girls also produced second team awards. Nicola Dilley took sixth place with Beverley Richmond close up tenth and Clare Johnson completing the scoring team in twentieth place. Only Fleet and Crookham AC bettered their score of 36 points.
Click – for the 1980 prize winners.
1981 – What a day!
Fine, mile weather over Ampthill on Sunday was just reward for the army of hard workers who with Bedford and County Athletic Club put on the eighth Ampthill Trophy Cross Country meeting. This meeting comprises 11 races over distances and age groups from eleven years running one mile to the Veteran Men (over 40s) covering an undulating 5.6 miles.
This particular day was to be a memorable one in the history of the Bedford club. The Senior Men’s race had International Tony Simmons of Luton and ever popular with the crowd former 10,000 World record holder David Bedford of Shaftesbury Harriers as well as Oxford’s Martin McCarthy, formerly of Bedford, and with a recent 2 hours 18 minutes debut to his credit.
But the one who topped the lot was Bedford’s own Mike Shotbolt who was to produce his best form nipping round the switchback course in the good time of 27 minutes 34 seconds. Backing from Russell Dennehy and Simon Goodwin, he also gained a second team award.
What had gone before Mike had crowned a successful day was astonishing. Bedford ladies had dominated every single event, an unheard of performance by any club at a meeting of this size. They took three of the first five team awards and also added a second place for good measure. They also won three of the first “B” team awards with their remaining two teams picking up the second places as a combined team, they also won the Colin Rumbelow Trophy.
Many of the girls had already run in the important Southern Women’s League meeting at Mitcham on the Saturday, so surely could have been excused if they had been a little tired. For the Senior Ladies, Sarah Aldred ran an impressive second with improving Margaret Watson in seventh place. Janet Dennehy was rewarded for a lot of hard work with eighteenth place and the satisfaction of scoring for the winning team.
Jenny Hickson bagged a second place prize in the Intermediate Ladies and, with Sarah Lawrence and Jackie Woods, also collected first team prize. The all conquering under-thirteen just goes from strength to strength, having defeated Stevenage in the second match of the Southern Women’s League at Mitcham on Saturday after leveling the first. They finished at Ampthill with first, fourth and sixth teams, a marvellous in-depth performance. The same trio of Nicola Dilley, Clare Johnson and Joanne Eady were in winners frame, but this time Joanne got the better of Clare.
The awards were presented by the Mayor of Ampthill, Councillor Andy Anderson.
Click – for the 1981 prize winners
1982 – A roaring success
The ninth Ampthill Trophy meeting promoted by Bedford and County Athletic Club under its meeting organiser Charlotte Neff, was a resounding success, with higher than ever entries and an increased number completing the course.
Of the 26 team awards for ladies, Bedford and County lions share collecting no less than eight of them.
The senior men’s race w easily won by Luton United filling first three places with Billy Dee winning from Steve Flint and Tony Simmonds in third place.
For the first time at a cross country was the use of electronic timing enabling all runners to see at a glance how they fared.
The awards presentation which took more than an hour due vast number of prizes and trophies was made Town Mayor of Ampthill, Councillor Richard Holden.
Click – for the 1983 prize winners
1984 – Bedford score a first
A splendid array of 239 cups and trophies greeted the 2,000 who arrived at Ampthill for the tenth holding of Bedford and County Athletic Club’s main cross country promotion.
An innovation this year was the introduction of computerised results provided by Derek Foster and his team from Comsult. It was a phenominal success with full race and team results for the eleven races being completed by 5:30.
Although somewhat cold up the hill, the weather contributed to the success of the meeting by staying dry and the athletes enjoyed a good fast course. The awards were presented by the Town Mayor of Ampthill, Mrs Audrey Cowell.
The Bedford club had a splendid result in the under 11 boy’s section with Neil Barton taking first place in a field of 173. Several second and third placing’s were gained. Winner of the Senior Ladies was A.Hollington of Bedford College.
Click – for the 1984 prize winners
1985 – Runners galore but not a jogger in sight
Top class athlete and bumper fields made sure that Sunday’s Ampthill Trophy cross country meeting maintained its status as the number one event in the racing calendar.
Organisers, the Bedford and County Athletic Club, once again received 2,000 runners from all over the country. More than 1,500 runners took place in 11 races of cut all quality.
Cross country to running freaks is the real thing – miles ahead of fun runs the hog the headlines. This is the grass-roots of the sport they say and on a marvelous day around the famous Masquerade treasure site it was easy to see why. With no pre-race hype and no fancy prizes the place was jam packed.
Such is the quality of entries to this meet that only one athlete has ever won the blue rib and
men’s senior race. Mike Shotbolt did it a few years back.
Russell Dennehy came pretty close last year when he finished runner-up. Winner of the Biggleswade meet the week before, Russell was delighted with his sixth place this year – a run he rated better than last year’s second. Moggerhanger and a regular Half Marathon top tenner, he gave the fun run season a miss to concentrate on his first love.
Phil O’Dell, the local banker fifth in the half marathon was ninth and Pete Dancer 31st to get the host club third place behind Woking, who supplied 1, 2 and 8 and Cambridge University 7, 12 and 16. Bedford and County B were 11th.
Stuart Plews, winner of the most fun runs in the summer, sixth in the Bedford Half in September and second last week, came 34th overall and led the Harriers’ team of Andy White 114, and Tony Saunders 123 to 19th team position.
Working took first and second place in the veteran men’s as well and they beat the Bedford team of Howard Darbon, 6th, Graham Ayre, 7th, and Giorgio Garofalo 13th to the team prize. John Clarke, seventh in the Bedford Marathon was 20th and with Roger Carew 24th, and Andy Lee 29th, got fifth place for the Bedford and County B team. Barry Lack, fifth, got Biggleswade to ninth with O.Hutchinson and R.Parry.
Alison Hollington, twice winner of the intermediate girls, national cross country championships and second in the AAAs 5000ms, won the senior ladies race in a canter for the Bedford College club. Michelle Brown, now of Leicester, was fourth.
Reporter: Neil Roy
Click – for the 1985 prize winners.
Mum’s the word for cross country winner
A Girl’s best friend is her mum. And in the case of Elizabeth Talbot, a budding Zola Budd, it’s nice to have a mum who’s interested in running as well.
Elizabeth, who attends the Alameda School in Ampthill won the girls’ under-11 race at the big cross country meeting in the Park on Sunday. Running in the colours of the host club, Bedford and County, she beat team mate Rosemary Melarkey in a sprint finish. Sarah Richardson came eight to ensure the team medal for the youngsters as well.
Elizabeth won the race by 3 seconds. As a local girl with a mum, Leslie, a keen athlete as well, she had a trial around the course with her best friend on Saturday and it obviously paid dividends in a field of 93 young runners.
Another Ampthill girl Anna Jones put local knowledge to good use in the under-13 event and led Emily Williams, second, and Claire Peet, 15th, to the team prize in that class as well. In a race of 171 girls the club’s B team came second in their class.
In the Junior a Ladies, 183 ran and Sharon Armstrong, fifth, Amy Burgoyne, ninth earned third place for the A team while the B string finished second. And a brilliant third place from Melanie Bardin the Intermediate Ladies and 10th spot from Sarah Desborough ensured another third and second position for the Bedford team.
Those team successes guaranteed the girls the Colin Rumbelow Trophy for the best ladies tea and the club the prize for the best team overall.
Winner of the senior ladies race was Alison Hollington, a student of the Bedford College. Second in the AAAs 5000m in the summer, Alison, an international pentathlete as well, had the biggest winning margin on the day.
Prizes were awarded by the mayor of Ampthill Mrs Peggy Palmer.
Click – for the 1985 prize winners.
1986 – Heartbreak Hill sorts them out
Have a good luck at him. This is the lad the experts reckon will be the Coe, Cram and Ovett of the 1990s but even he had settle for second best in the big race at the Ampthill cross-country meeting on Sunday.
Darren Mead of Thetford came second in the senior men’s to Clive Hensby the defending champion from Woking, who was hardly out of breath after three trips up Heartbreak Hill where most of the runners got sorted out.
Courageous run by County’s Kate
The Thirteenth Ampthill Trophy meeting on Sunday will be remembered for the unexpected defeat of Thetford junior international Darren Mead, the major upset caused by Biggleswade in the Veterans race and a courageous run by Bedford & County’s Kate Foster towing the U13 race after losing a shoe.
Two thousand athletes entered this premier cross-country meeting. On competitor summed it up: “I only came for the hill and the hotdogs.”
Two members of the Fenland club March AC, not used to hills, competed in the Veteran’s race and decided they wanted more so took part in the immediately following Senior race as well, which meant a total of six trips up the notorious Breakheart Hill.
It was the Senior’s race which saw Woking’s Clive Hensby triumph over Darren Mead. Runner-up last year Hensby had the confidence to take the initiative early on.
Currently in fine form, Hensby, already with a second place behind Bernie Ford in the Surrey League, one of the best XC competitions in the country, made his break on the first lap after the hill and quickly built up a significant lead which stretched to 100 metres by the end.
Mead was not challenged for the runners-up spot, with David Miller, a virtual unknown from Corby, taking third. D.Compton (Wycombe) fourth, A.Mason (Barnet) fifth and Luton’s Andy West sixth.
Such was the quality of the field the first Bedford man home was Russell Dennehey in 13th position with Robin Dodds in 14th and Phil O’Dell 24th, earning the host club the second team award behind Cambridge who had I.Lloyd in seventh, T.Corinell ninth and J.Foster tenth.
The biggest shock came in the Veteran’s race when Biggleswade, one of the smallest clubs in the Eastern Region, won the team award.
They also had the individual winner in Roger Wadeley. He led from the start, had clear 40m lead first time up the hill and built on this over the next two laps to run out clear winner, with B.Lloyd (Tipton) second and Keith Cook of Vauxhall third. Barry Lack 10th and Terry Clements saw Biggleswade home with 25 points with Vauxhall second on 33 points and Bedford third on 36 points.
Bedford however had the consolation of the B team award. The best placing came from Graham Ayre in eighth, Brian Webb 10th and John Clarke 19th for the A team, with Georgio Garofalo 20th, Howard Darbon 26th and Ian Jones 28th for the B team.
The only other Bedford winner was Kate Foster in the U13 event who finally beat Della Butcher on the Enfield club after finishing behind her in the Icknield at Thetford and at the Trophy mates at Mitcham and Stevenage.
Kate, who spearheads the Bedford team in the National Road Relays at Liverpool this weekend, was third at the hill but, despite losing her shoe in the wood, overtook Butcher and Debbie Gould (Northampton) to take the lead and hung on bravely to the finish.
Emily Williams moved up the field for third and Bedford finished first and second team with 9 and 32 points respectively with Dudley & Stowbridge AC third on 56 points.
Bedford’s other team win of the day came in the U17 ladies with fine running from Melanie Bard fourth, Sara Desborough eighth and Sheena Dunlop 10th, also warming up for the big Relay event.
Thetford’s promising 15-year old youngster Elaine Warren won the race in only her first year in the age group, with Eddie Hall (Northampton) doing likewise in the U17 Youths.
Although Bedford &County did not figure in the final team placings, the club fielded a Senior Ladies team with an excellent first run coming from Sue Penfold 24th, Maggie Gallagher 76th, Karen Richards 74th and Sonia Gordge 78th in a field of over 100 runners.
Bedford & County were not as dominant this year but still won the Overall Team Trophy, with Shaftesbury Barnet taking the Overall Male Trophy.
Click – for the 1986 prize winners.
1987 – Torture hill takes its toll again
Herne Hill Harrier Tom Conlon produced the shock result in the 14th Amphill Cross Country meet at Ampthill Park on Sunday when he defeated Luton’s England international Billy Dee. After Luton’s Andy Hobdell had taken an early lead, Conlon hit the front after the first trip of three up the notorious Heartbreak Hill and cruised to a comfortable fifteen second victory. Conlon is a virtual unknown in athletic circles but has made his mark this season by winning the Fanborough ’10’ and last week the first fixture of the prestigious Surrey League.
Billy Dean had the consolation of leading Luton to the team prize with Hobdell 4th and Keith Brown sixth. The other scorers for a total of 11 points. Grant a Harriers were second with 42pts and Cambridge University third with 45pts. Bedford came home close behind in fourth with Russell Dennehy, the winner of the Biggleswade Cross Country meet, producing another battling performance for tenth.
Dennehy is currently in fine form from having excellent runs in this season’s Road Relay championships. Paul Gooding followed close behind in 20th while Andy Blair ran the best race of his career 23rd.
Biggleswade’s Roger Wadeley retained his title in the Veteran’s race leading from gun to tape with a winning margin of 37 seconds. But his Biggleswade club was unable to prevent their close rivals Bedford taking the team prize.
Bedford’s Howard Darbon proved he is in the right kind of form for the forthcoming World Veteran Track and Field Championships in Austria at the end of this month as he finished fourth. Graham Ayre, seventh, and Brian Webb 10th, who ran the final lap of the course barefoot, were the other scorers.
Other successes for the host club came in the u15 Girls where a human wall of blue formed up the hill as Clare Wilson, the winner, Kate Foster second, Paula Radcliffe third and Anna Jones fourth ran around the 1.6 mile course side by side.
Victoria Russell won a close race in the u11 and Bedford secured a further team win with Juliette Parkin fifth and Lindsey Plant sixth while Lisa Richardson was second in the s behind V.Bevis (Kettering). Tonbridge’s top youngster Julie Adkin showed her class by winning the u17 with Sharon Armstrong the best placed Bedford girl in eighth.
Alison Hollington (Thurrock) the former Bedford student made a return to the scene where she convincingly won two years ago and showed the same kind of form to finish 20 seconds of Cambridge’s Debbie Nunn.
Cambridge won the team with Bedford and Luton battling out the minor awards.
Bedford’s Melanie Bard continued her fine form for fifth in what was a good standard field. Sarah Desborough battled bravely for 10th and Julia Wheatley impressed in 17th to score 32pts but Luton bunched better with Sarah Bower seventh, Ruth Shield eleventh and Sarah Parading to pip Bedford for second.
The best efforts on the other races on a course described as ‘torture’ came from Robert Payne, ninth in u20, Justin McDaid 37th in the u17 and James Power 51st in the u15. Bedford fared better in the u13 for third team with Daniel O’Connor 11th, Martin Radcliffe 19th and James Sawford 22nd.
In the Senior Ladies race there was a mother and daughter running for the Bedford and County Club – Margaret Bassett known to team mates as ‘Dot’ finished 99th daughter Lisa was 35th.
Report by Graham White, Photos by Ray Brooke
Click – for the 1987 prize winners.
1988
Click – for the 1988 prize winners.
1989 – Hot stuff in trophy tussle
Bedford and County girls warmed up for the National Road Relay Championships with plenty of success in the Ampthill Trophy cross-country meeting.
A stream of blue vests pounded up the notorious Breakheart Hill, the principal feature of the Beefeater Steak Houses sponsored meet, in the Under 13 girls race. Victoria Russell led the way and went onto win the 1.6 mile race which also included a muddy route through the woods.She completed the tough course in 10min 25sec, closely followed by Juliette Parkin in 10min 29sec and Melanie Hance in third (10min 36sec) to give Bedford and County the team title.
The B squad of Lindsay Pack, now recovered from her broken arm sustained in a 800 metre race during the summer, Lindsey Haynes, Dawn Harding and Eleanor Mayne were second team home with local rivals Milton Keynes third.
Victoria’s sister Angela was also in winning form in the Under 11s, showing good sprinting from up the hill, but dad Mick could not match the family success, only managing 49th in the senior men’s race. The under 11s were pipped for gold by just two points by Lincolnshire team Bourne (46 points) despite excellent runs from Faye Halpin, S.Harding and J.Peacock.
Ampthill girl Liz Talbot was involved in an exciting tussle with Lucy Edge (Bracknell) and Windsor’s Coe in the Under 15s, but had to settle for third in 10min 03sec. She had the consolation of leading Bedford to the team award with fine support from her Ampthill friend Michelle Matthews (ninth) and promising newcomer Kerry Hart (23rd), while Amanda Pack had to battle hard up the hill, finishing 41st.
Pre race favourite Paula Radcliffe ran away from the rest of the field in the Under 17s, winning by nearly half a minute from Ipswich’s P.Gullett. In form Clare Peet was fourth and Elinor Caborn ninth.
The senior ladies was a star studded affair, with Stevenage’s track international Laura Adam over 3000 metres beating Shaftesbury Barnet’s Lucy Elliott by 25 seconds.
Melanie Bard recovered from her facial injury being hit by a branch in the recent Southern Women’s League fixture to finish eighth, with other good performances from Gill Allen, and Sheena Dunlop on her comeback in 20th for the team spot.
Credit should go to Rosemary Roome who battled around the back of the veterans field, but her efforts were enough to give Bedford seventh team spot with Hazel Darbon and V.Duckworth the other scorers.
Bedford and County will be hoping to repeat this success tomorrow in the National Road Relay Championships at Lincoln.
The club took the Under 15 title last year, but the main hopes this time lie with the Under 13s and the Under 17s.
Report by Graham White
Click – for the 1989 prize winners.
Neil nips in to win
Cambridge University’s Neil Panchen won a thrilling men’s senior race by just two seconds. A group of four, Panchen, Canadian Olympic steeplechaser Marcus Adam, Adrian Mason (Barnet) and Boxhill’s Tim Crossman, quickly broke away from the rest of the field on the opening lap. Panchen was the one who managed to find that extra bit of energy after three trips put he hill to win in 27min 42sec over the 5.8 mile course. Adam was runner-up, with Mason close behind and Crossman fourth.
Former Bedford athletes returned to their home course. Dave Clarke, now representing Wigan, was 31st, while Barry Hill’s new recruit Paul Gooding came home suffering in 33rd. The best Harrier placing was Tony Barnes in 63rd.
The Under 11s produced the best result for the boys, finishing first with Steve Hutchinson and Stuart Shaw coming home sixth and seventh, with Alan Lee making up the team.
There were several other fine performances in the other age groups, notably from the promising David Parry in 12th and David Clothier 14th for the U15s.
Flitton’s Tim Newbery used his track form to good effect on the country to finish 11th, with steeplechase star Garrie Richardson placing 20th. The Under 15s were third team, while the Under 17s came fourth.
Bedford struggled in the Under 13s for seventh, despite courageous efforts from the likes of Adam Mayhew (22nd), Scott Bailey (24th) and Steve Halpin (34th).
Graham Ayre (18th) and Brian Webb (26th) had their work cut out in the veteran’s race, but helped Bedford to fifth against strong opposition with powerful Oxford the winners.
Report by Graham White
Click – for the 1989 prize winners.
1990 – An uphill struggle
While the Home Counties International provided few shocks, the major surprises at the Beefeater Ampthill Trophy cross country meeting came in the accompanying girls’ races.
Both Tony Simmons, in the men’s races and Glynis Penny in the ladies veterans retained their titles.
Glynis had a tussle with her England team mate Sally Young, but was first to the line by just three seconds on the tough 5K course.
Local favourite Tony Simmons, representing Wales, had a runaway victory, making his break for home with one lap to go and pushing England’s Tony Ross into the runners-up spot, with Scotland’s Ian Elliot third.
Normally so dominant at this meet, the Bedford and Count girls failed to provide an individual winner, although they picked up two individual team wins. These came in the Under 11s and the Under 15s while they finished runners-up in the Under 13s to Derby, and the Under 17s to Ipswich.
It was certainly tough going on the hill where Liz Talbot lost her lead, which she had held from the start, on her second trip up it, but she battled hard to finish third.
Melanie Hance, third, and Eleanor Mayne, fourth had their work cut out by the Cantrill twins from Derby in the Under 13s.
In 16th place was Angela Russell who along with her sister Victoria was raising money for an oximeter breathing machine for Eleanor Roomes by getting people to sponsor them for each minute they took to cover the course.
Their dad, Mick said “Their pride should not allow either of them to run slowly. They were keen to raise money for the project because Eleanor’s dad Geoff coaches Angela at Daueney.” For the record Victoria clocked 9mins 46sec for fourth in the U15s, while Angela did 10min 51sec for 1.6 miles. Mick was also in action in the open veteran’s race, finishing 30th, while the best Bedford performance came from Dave Laynes in a respectable 11th.
Another family trio was the Shotbolt’s, where Mick battled back from a slow start for fifth in a race convincingly won by Nene Valley’s Giovanni Rizzo, with Clive Hensby (Woking) second and Luton’s Keith Miller third. Mick’s daughter Donna was 57th in the Under 11 girls, while Lee was 84th in the same age group.
The best boy’s performance was in the Under 15s, where David Parry was second to Derby’s Farrow and was well supported by Robert Smith, fifth, and David Sawford, sixth, to take the team prize. Other notable efforts from the boys came from Andrew Desborough, who was sixth in the Under 11s, and Tom Newbery, tenth in the under 17s.
Click – for the 1990 prize winners.
1991-98
Click – for the prize winners by year and full results for 1991-.
Hare Brained Happenings 