Category Archives: Cross Country

With “The Storm” forecast for later in the day, dire warnings of “Get Home Quickly” were issued from Anna as we set out on the long trek to Bristol.

The trip out kept dry, but the winds were building, and half way around our course walk through, the heavens opened. Though heavy the downpour was short lived and by the time Robbie was warmed up and ready to go the sun was breaking through the clouds once more.

After an initial stumble Robbie is back up and in with the crowd as they race down the starting straight.

Being bottom year, the UK Cross Challenge is going to be very hard for Robbie this year, so he needs to concentrate on specific targets, not wins as such. With that in mind the Target for Bristol was a top 10 finish, which unfortunately didn’t happen with Robbie finishing in 12th place, that said it was an excellent performance against some very strong opposition. With the likes of last years U13’s winner, Matt Rawlings, finishing 8th, and Piers Copeland, upper age group but an old adversary of Robbie’s from 2 years ago, finishing 9th. It shows that 12th was in fact not such a bad position after all.

The Table below shows the first 12 runners from this year, with equivalent times for that position (Not Runner) last year.

As you can see from above, this years race was quite a bit quicker than last years, but that happens a lot with Cross Country, it would have been nice to see Jack Boswell (7th last year) there again this year, just to see how he responded to Ben Dijkstra’s outstanding performance.

Robbie running lower age group for his first ever U15 Cross Country with his target position firmly set in the top 20. Representative’s from Reading, Wimborne, Southampton, AFD, Camberley, Fleet and many others made up a very strong field, so top 20 was a high standard to target. As it happens it was high but certainly not unobtainable, with the AFD boys running a great race, both at an individual level and as a team.

Details aren’t readily available as yet, but I will add  more when they are, as a taster, here is what I know.

1st Jack Boswell (AFD) – 11:56

4th Jake Cvetkovic (AFD) – 12:35

10th Robbie Coupland (AFD) – 12:54

AFD Race for the Hill

Well done boys….

Jack Boswell starts pushing for the lead… (Who is that dodgy bird in the cap and blue jacket loitering around in the background?)

And Robbie Hits the Hill…

Robbie hits the hill at Prospect Park.

U15 Boys (Note: The first four Runners for a club, make up the team.)
Team Position: Equal 1st

Not much here yet, but keep your eyes open as I intend to fill it up fairly swiftly.

A taster picture of the AFD U13 Boys team, at the National XC event in Sunderland. Very snowy, very muddy and pretty darn cold.

National XC 2012

The Hampshire league may be a bit misnamed, it is organised by Hampshire Athletics Association, but athletes from Surrey, Berkshire, Dorset, IOW and the Channel Islands compete alongside their Hampshire counter parts.

This leads to a very competitive and very tough competition. The Hampshire Athletes and their performances are monitored by HAA during the season, and their performances are utilised to pick the Hampshire County Representative team.

The Hampshire League comprises of 5 individual races, the results of which are fed in to an overall individual results table and an overall team results table.

• Race 1 – Farley Mount – 6th
  • 13/10/2012

A new season in the Hampshire League sees many of last years U13 boys move up oin to the U15 age category, with the reduced numbers and the loss of some exceptional talent the U13’s are going to have to work really hard to come anywhere close to last years success.

Familiar opposition in the form of Archie Ives and Daniel Cooke both finishing ahead of Robbie’s 6th place. AFD manage to get 3 runners in the top 14 (Billy Smith 11th, Lawrence Gilfrin 14th), with newcomer Tom Naisby finishing in a very respectable 21st.

• Race 2 – Goodwood – 4th
  • 10/11/2012

Robbie just outside the top 3, finishing in 4th with a time of 11’09” fractions of a second in front of Alfie Ives also with a time of 11’09”.

Other high finishing AFD runners; Sean Pocknee (10th), Lawrence Gilfrin (16th), Tom Naisby (23rd)

• Race 3 – Popham Airfield, Basingstoke – 5th
  • 01/12/2012

James Fleming from Camberley returns, finishing in 4th place just ahead of Robbie in 5th (10’54”). Lawrence Gilfrin comes in as the second AFD runner in 10th and Tom Naisby as the third in 18th with a 36th place contribution from James Hier.

• Race 4 – King’s park, Bournemouth – N/R
  • 12/01/2013

And in to 2013… Robbie missed this race as he was competing in the McCain UK XC Challenge in Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Good to see Daniel Cooke back on form, James Fleming finished 6th, first AFD runner in was Billy Smith in 10th, with AFD contributions from Tom Naisby (16th), Lawrence Gilfrin (18th), Sean Pocknee (20th).

• Race 5 – Hudson’s Field, Salisbury – 3rd
  • 09/02/2012

Very wet and miserable conditions, slippery underfoot. Robbie pushing up to the back field.

Back in and running, can’t afford to miss another race, need at least 4 results to qualify for the overall medal selections. That said, Robbie will need an excellent performance in this final race to be in with a chance.

First medal finish in the Hampshire League for Robbie, pulling it out of the bag when it was most needed.

AFD Runners; Tom Naisby (19th), Sean Pocknee (22nd) with AFD just scraping together the minimum team of 3 runners.

Overall Standings.

Individual

The overall individual standings are calculated by taking each runners best 4 results and adding them together, the lowest score wins.

On the medal front, 1 gold medal is issued, 1 silver medal is issued and 4 bronze medals are issued. So joining Tom Bourne for Bronze medals were James Fleming, Robbie Coupland and Alex Forster.

Individual Overall Medal Winners – Hampshire League 2012/13

Team The Team event is based on the Team position for each race, added together to create a score. There are no dropped results in the team section, so all team positions for all races count. The lowest score wins.

Well not gold, but not bad. The AFD U13 team has dwindled in numbers and that will only ever make things more difficult.

AND FINALLY !!!

Robbie once again selected for the Hampshire County Cross Country team this year.

The Hampshire Championships are always a hard fought battle, now running as the upper age group in U13’s Robbie has something to prove.

Fleming park, Eastleigh – Distance 3450m

Individual Results

Billy Smith from AFD running as lower age group finished in 7th place with an excellent time of 12’24”.

Individual Medallists Hampshire Country Cross Country Championships 2013

Team Results

Team AFD – u13 Boys Hampshire County Cross Country Championships 2013

The Hampshire league may be a bit misnamed, it is organised by Hampshire Athletics Association, but athletes from Surrey, Berkshire, Dorset, IOW and the Channel Islands compete alongside their Hampshire counter parts.

This leads to a very competitive and very tough competition. The Hampshire Athletes and their performances are monitored by HAA during the season, and their performances are utilised to pick the Hampshire County Representative team.

This will be a tough League for Robbie, not only is it very competitive but he will be running in the bottom age group, competing in the U13’s at 11 years old.

The Hampshire League comprises of 5 individual races, the results of which are fed in to an overall individual results table and an overall team results table.

• Race 1 – Farley Mount – 7th
  • 08/10/2011

This first Hampshire League race introduces some names that become very familiar over the next few years. Daniel Cooke, now running for Camberley, Piers Copeland running for Wimborne and Matt Rawlings running for Reading are just a few.

With James Fleming in 4th, a great first race at u13’s for him, Daniel Cooke in 6th, Harry Grace (AFD) in 7th. Robbie finishing in 9th, 3 seconds in front of 10th place Matt Rawlings.

• Race 2 – Goodwood – 12th
  • 12/11/2011

Sean Pocknee finished for AFD in 5th place, Robbie finished in 12th and Harry Grace finished for AFD in 13th. Just a few of the AFD athletes in attendance.

• Race 3 – Popham Airfield, Basingstoke – 16th
  • 03/12/2011

Hampshire League 2011/12 Race 3

The third race in the series saw a new face for AFD, one that will become very familiar and will frequently be associated with winning.

Sean Pocknee was 2nd in for AFD in 4th place and Robbie was 3rd right down in 16th. Beat on the day by a number of familiar names.

• Alex Rowe (Guernsey) – 6th
• Daniel Cooke (Camberley) – 9th
• Matt Rawlings (Reading) – 11th
• James Fleming (Camberley) – 13th
• Archie Ives (Winchester) – 15th

• Race 4 – King’s park, Bournemouth – 4th
  • 14/01/2012

Well 2011 didn’t give much to Robbie’s results or performances. The league was always expected to be hard, but many of Robbie’s contemporaries stepped up to the task with greater success than he did himself, this is the first event of 2012, let’s hope we can start to see an improvement.

Robbie completed the race as the second AFD runner and with his best performance to date in the Hampshire League, finishing 4th in 8’32”, 1 second ahead of Matt Rawlings. Familiar rivals James Fleming and Daniel Cooke of Camberley finished 10th and 12 respectively and future Hampshire team mate Archie Ives  finished in 15th place.

• Race 5 – Hudson’s Field, Salisbury – 9th
  • 11/02/2012

The final race of the series, with AFD getting some exceptional results in other age groups the team events are looking good across the board.

3rd in for AFD finishing in 9th place with a time of 11’24”, with Luke Powell beating him by 1 second in a tight finish that saw only 5 seconds between Robbie and 4th place.

Some names and positions to mention.

• James Fleming (Camberley) – 10th
• Matt Rawlings (Reading) – 11th
• Harry Grace (AFD) 12th
• Archie Ives (Winchester) 14th
• Lawrence Gilfrin (AFD) 16th

Overall Standings.

Individual

The overall individual standings are calculated by taking each runners best 4 results and adding them together, the lowest score wins.

On the medal front, 1 gold medal is issued, 1 silver medal is issued and 4 bronze medals are issued. So joining Tom Verney for Bronze medals were James Fleming, Matt Rawlings and Tom Bourne. Robbie missed out on an Individual medal placing 6th overall.

Team The Team event is based on the Team position for each race, added together to create a score. There are no dropped results in the team section, so all team positions for all races count. The lowest score wins.

The Hampshire League Winning Team.

The athletes that represented AFD throughout the League in the U13’s were; Billy Smith, Chris Snook, Harry Grace, Zac Ayers, Jack Boswell, James Hier, James Pocknee, Lawrence Gilfrin, Robbie Coupland, Reece Webber, Sam McCready, Sean Pocknee, Tom Galloway, Tom Potter and Will Passmore. All of whom helped to contribute to the overall success of the club in this event. A total of 129 different athletes competed in the U13 boys section.

Quite astounding to see AFD not only winning the U13 Boys overall event, but in fact winning the team event in every single race.

AND FINALLY !!!

Robbie’s position of 9th, was sufficient to get him selected for the Hampshire County Cross Country Team. Awesome job.

The Hampshire Championships are always a hard fought battle, 2012 shows a large U13 AFD boys team. So we’d hope to see an excellent team performance, much like the 2012 Hampshire League.

Distance 2700m

Individual Results

Alex Rowe from Guernsey finished in 4th and Robbie finished in 5th with a time of 9’28”.

Team Results

Robbie only competed in two seasons of the Border League, moving his racing emphasis to the Hampshire League events, which feeds the Hampshire County selection process, and keeping some Sunday’s free for Football.

Robbie setting the pace in the 4th Border League race.

The Border League comprises of 4 individual races, the results of which are fed in to an overall individual results table and an overall team results table. It is organised and run every year by Camberley Athletic Club.

• Race 1 – Lord Wandsworth College – 2nd
  • 07/11/2010

Robbie’s first meeting with Sean Pocknee, a talented new addition to AFD’s line up.

Sean Pocknee finished in 4th Place.

• Race 2 – Farnham Park – 1st
  • 12/12/2010

Location and event organisation for the Farnham Park race was by AFD, the steep upward sloping start seem to suit the boys really well, all those Thursday night hill training sessions coming in to practice. This is the first time we can remember seeing Daniel Cooke, another one of Robbie’s long term running opponents. In this race he was running for Bracknell, but he later moved to Camberley.

Daniel Cooke finishes in 4th place. Robbie’s Fleet Spurs team mate Matt Farmiloe finishes in 12’15” placing him 33rd in  a very competitive race.

• Race 3 – Guildford – 1st
  • 06/02/2011

• Race 4 – Lightwater – 2nd
  • 27/02/2011

After leading the race comfortably for a long time, Robbie relaxed out in the front, leading the pack by almost 400m at one point. His relaxation ultimately his undoing as Sean sprinted past him, quite literally grabbing the lead as they crossed the line.

Overall Standings.

Individual

The overall individual standings are calculated by taking each runners best 3 results and adding them together, the lowest score wins.

Team The Team event is based on the Team position for each race, added together to create a score. There are no dropped results in the team section, so all team positions for all races count. The lowest score wins.

As you can see the team performance improved over the duration of the League, the team placing per race is based on the finishing positions of the first 4 finishing athletes for that team, so in the final race AFD won with 1,2,8 (Chris Snook),13 (Jacob Ayers) giving a score of 24 points, Bracknell came second with 32 points. Over the event AFD contributions at U11 also came from Zac Ayers and Lawrence Gilfrin.

Robbie’s first season of competition for AFD see’s him taking part in the Border League cross country championships in the U11 age group.

The Border League comprises of 4 individual races, the results of which are fed in to an overall individual results table and an overall team results table. It is organised and run every year by Camberley Athletic Club.

• Race 1 – Lightwater – 2nd

Robbie’s first meeting with James Fleming (Camberley) sees James take first place, but what an excellent first race. James and Robbie have a friendly rivalry that is still going strong in 2013.

• Race 2 – Guildford

This was the first time Robbie came up against team mate Harry Grace, still running together at AFD in 2013 Harry and Robbie are good friends, but this was a very closely fought race. Robbie put everything in to the finish, with Harry nearly taking him in the last 100 meters. So much effort went in to that 100 meters that Robbie had to be carried away from the finish line by his Grandad.

James Fleming finds himself pushed in to 4th place.

• Race 3 – Basingstoke

Robbie finished in 5th place with a time of 10.40.

• Race 4 – Lightwater

The final race of the season saw Harry Grace (AFD) pushed in to 4th place, and James Fleming (Camberley) pushed in to 7th.

Overall Standings.

Individual

The overall individual standings are calculated by taking each runners best 3 results and adding them together, the lowest score wins.

Team
The Team event is based on the Team position for each race, added together to create a score. There are no dropped results in the team section, so all team positions for all races count. The lowest score wins.

Still seems odd to me that as a team AFD could win 3 out of 4 races and still not win the team event, but hey, who am I? 🙂

Robbie Collecting his Individual Winners Medal for Border League 2009/10