Several second-claimers were in action. Nick Talbot (6th), Tom Kingsnorth (19th) and Tim Woodthorpe (23rd) all ran well and will hopefully don the saltire soon!

Julian Rendall ran a big PB of 53:36 for 3rd place in the Canterbury 10. Julian has joined Thames from Tonbridge and will be eligible to run for the club at the National.

A few (less) hardy Thames men and women braved the early chill wind in Bushy Park for this weekly event. Kate and David Symons were rewarded with first and second place in the ladies and mens race respectively and Hugh was not far behind Dave in fifth place. The race is friendly, free and takes place at 9am every Saturday morning from the Diana Fountain car park.

1.	Richard Ward (Bels)		15.57
2.	David Symons			16.31
5.	Hugh Sheilds			17.12
28.	Kate Symons			19.26 (1st lady)
37.	Ian Trotter			20.21

A mixed day for Thames at this years Southerns. In the mens event the club were 6th which represented a good return given the current lack of availability of some crucial members of the club. Kay and Wendy tackled the constant climbs and twists of the parkland course with great gusto and finished a very respectable 158th and 228th respectively and Bethan Hopewell (running for first claim Bedford) had a good run for 37th. The captain improved upon his poor run last week at SLH with 31st with Ian Nick and John fairly close behind. Nick Malynn had the run of the day with a magnificent 78th before Andy Howse closed the team in 97th. Thames did however win the 12-to-score event by a sizeable margin.

Ladies Race
37th	Bethan	32.48
158th	Kay 	40:18
228th	Wendy	53:35


Mens Race
1st	D Mitchenson	49:19
31st	S Wurr		52:24
51st	I Harkness	53:47
61st	N Altmann	54:26
73rd	J McFarlane	55:09
78th	N Malynn		55:39
97th	A Howse		56:18
105th	N Gould		56:39
119th	A Gaskell	57:29
134th	A Kennis		58:02
163rd	M Lynas		58:59
169th	L Matthews	59:16
351st	M Bryant		1:07:19

Team Event
1st	Bedford & County		163 
2nd	Newham & Essex Beagles	216
3rd	Herne Hill		221
6th	TH&H			386

SLHs middle order strength was too much for the 23 saltires that towed the line at a sun drenched Farthing Down. Stuart Major and Jason Simpson destroyed the field and in the end their superior numbers won the day by 372 points to 466.

On the plus side Nick Altmann made an encouraging come back in 4th and Chris Daniels and Nick Malynn both ran strong races in 6th and 7th. Chris Wrighton also ran a gutsy race for 8th and showed how good a runner he is going to be. Kate and Wendy were the only TH&H ladies in action. Kate led the ladies field home but Wendy called it a day after one lap having already run the Box Hill fell race earlier that morning! Star of the show though was Robin Dickson who despite recent illness organised the team and scores at the finish.

 
1	00:43:50	MAJOR, Stuart	South London Harriers	   
2	00:43:52	SIMPSON, Jason	South London Harriers	   
3	00:45:59	WURR, Simon	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
4	00:46:23	ALTMANN, Nick	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
5	00:46:57	SYMONS, Dave	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
6	00:47:27	DANIELS, Chris	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
7	00:47:31	MALYNN, Nick	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
8	00:47:54	WRIGHTON, Chris	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
9	00:48:10	PHELAN, Chris	South London Harriers	   
10	00:48:46	COLLINS, Andy	South London Harriers	   
11	00:49:28	BAKER, David	South London Harriers	   
12	00:49:31	AITKEN, Andrew	South London Harriers	   
13	00:50:03	MITCHELL, Paul	South London Harriers	   
14	00:50:44	BURDETT, Jim	South London Harriers	   
15	00:51:04	MATHEWS, Larry	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
16	00:51:26	OGDEN, David	South London Harriers	   
17	00:51:34	SCARLES, Phil	South London Harriers	   
18	00:52:23	UPCOTT, Francis	South London Harriers	   
19	00:52:43	LYNAS, Matt	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
20	00:53:08	QUARTON, Glen	South London Harriers	   
21	00:53:26	DAVIES, Rhodri	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
22	00:54:06	HIGGINS, Ian	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
23	00:54:13	TURNER, Rick	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
24	00:54:22	MALONEY, Nick	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
25	00:54:25	EDGINGTON, Clive	South London Harriers	   
26	00:55:41	CORR, Billy	South London Harriers	   
27	00:56:28	AIREY, Mike	South London Harriers	   
28	00:56:31	PARRY, Will	South London Harriers	   
29	00:56:35	HARRISON, Rob	South London Harriers	   
30	00:56:39	CROZIER, Rob	South London Harriers	   
31	00:56:41	GEVERS, Bob	South London Harriers	   
32	00:56:47	NIGHTINGALE, Tim	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
33	00:56:57	TWOMEY, Jerry	South London Harriers	   
34	00:57:41	SYMONS, Kate	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
35	00:58:06	LEE, Ken	South London Harriers	   
36	00:58:17	WARD, Terry	South London Harriers	   
37	00:58:46	SOUTHALL, Peter	South London Harriers	   
38	00:58:56	SAUNDERS, Matt	South London Harriers	   
39	00:59:26	STAINSBY, Andy	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
40	00:59:34	DAVIS, Andy	South London Harriers	   
41	00:59:42	MITCHELL, Viv	South London Harriers	   
42	00:59:56	IRVINE, Al	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
43	01:00:44	BRUTNALL, Ashley	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
44	01:01:29	EMERY, Peter	South London Harriers	   
45	01:01:44	BLAIR-FISH, Peter	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
46	01:02:03	MAJOR, Pippa	South London Harriers	   
47	01:02:08	QUANTRILL, Jo	South London Harriers	   
48	01:02:55	GIBBONS, Al	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
49	01:02:58	WILLIAMS, Clive	South London Harriers	   
50	01:03:04	ROGERS, Mark	South London Harriers	   
51	01:06:24	Mc NABB, Robin	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
52	01:06:44	HOLMES, Chris	South London Harriers	   
53	01:08:21	NEWBY, Paul	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
54	01:08:29	IANNELLA, Pam	South London Harriers	   
55	01:08:57	BRIGHT, Ian	Thames Hare & Hounds	   
56	01:10:15	CLAUSEN, Jake	South London Harriers	   
57	01:12:17	DURHAM, Peter	South London Harriers	 

Team: 20-to-score

SLH		372
THH		466

THH Jet-setter Phill Sly clocked 31:14 & 66:28 on consecutive days in a race series in Bermuda for 4th and 2nd places.

Bethan Hopewell flew around the challenging, muddy and hilly North Down course to place an excellent third. Kate and Anna inspired each other to finish higher up the field than in previous races and Karen, Maureen, Di and Isabelle completed the ladies team. It was a tough debut run for Isabelle - but she was still smiling - just - at the end.

1.	Clare Nicholson	20.33	Stragglers
2.	Becky McNicholas	20.43	HHH
3.	Bethan Hopewell	20.47
24.	Kate Symons	22.39	
30.	Anna Garnier	22.57
88.	Karen Jones	25.50
94.	Di Leakey		26.19
110.	Maureen Poole	27.58
133.	Isabelle Bano	37.42

Full results http://www.ggac.co.uk/Results/x-country/w_sen_div1.htm

The mens team came up with a gutsy performance despite a long list of absentees. At a cold and damp Guildford John McFarlane led Thames home in 3rd which by his own very high standards equates to a slightly below par run. The Captain broke into the top 10 for the first time in four years with David Symons storming round to 15th and his best ever placing. Darren Talbot was the fourth saltire in 18th whilst Chris Daniels showed the benefit of doing some hard gardening of late in 25th. Herne Hill romped away to a big winning margin putting the league title beyond doubt. A feat that is no less than their superb packing has deserved all season.

1st	P Wicks	(Bels)	25:42
3rd	J McFarlane	26:05
7th	S Wurr		27:00
15th	D Symons		27:38
18th	D Talbot		27:46
25th	C Daniels		28:47
26th	N Malynn		28:49
35th	A Howse		29:12	
35th	N Gould		29:13
43rd	A Kennis		29:32
46th	A Weir		29:39
62nd	P Lazo		30:41
65th	L Matthews	30:59
98th	D Pescod		34:15
118th	J Armitage	38:05

Match
1st	HHH		170
2nd	TH&H		250
3rd	SLH		348
4th	Bels		372
5th	Reigate		438
6th	G&G		482
7th	K&P		562
8th	Walton AC	618

Overall
1st	HHH		533
2nd	TH&H		687
3rd	Bels		1008

James Ward ran a steady 64:55 for 20th place

New recruit Julian Rendall finished 7th in a high quality race. Julian is currently serving a ban after following in Ben Reynolds footsteps and joining us from Tonbridge AC but will be eligible to run for TH&H for the National.

Tom Kingsnorth continued his return to form with a fine victory in 16.00.

John McFarlane led the field home with a commanding piece of front running and helped Thames to silver medals in the team competition. Bethan Hopewell ran strongly in the ladies race for a top ten spot. Results below.

Men
1.	John McFarlane		41.41
16.	Darren Talbot		44.31
20.	David Symons		45.08
30.	Nic Gould			46.27
37.	Al Kennis			46.55
76.	Hugh Shields		50.35
93.	Andy Schofield		51.36
178.	Geoff Armitage		61.02

Team
1 	Herne Hill Harriers 	61 
2 	Thames Hare & Hounds 	125 
3 	South London H 		142  

Ladies
1.	Genevive Gardner (G&G)	33.09
10.	Bethan Hopewell		34.50
26.	Alison Carpenter		37.22
30.	Kate Symons		37.44

Either Chris Daniels had a quiet night in with some cocoa on New Years Eve or he is getting fit as he posted 34:18 for 6th place at the annual pipe opener in the Hyde Park 10k. Hugh Shields ran a creditable 35:34 for 14th place.

Tom Kingsnorth brought in the New Year in style with a terrific victory in the Lauriston 7 in 36:58. A new recruit to Thames, Tom is now getting back to the form that saw him win medals at English Schools level. A host of THH members also dusted off their racing shoes after the New Year festivities with Tim Nightingale (15th) and Dan Pescod (17th) having the best relative performances.

Lauriston 7
(club results only)

1st	T Kingsnorth		36:58
6th	A Weir			40:26
15th	T Nightingale		44:07
17th	D Pescod			44:43
18th	K Hignett		44:47
27th	D Walsh			50:46
30th	M Bostelman		53:09	
31st	A Eady			58:11