| Monthly Newsletter to showcase everything that is happening at our wonderful club. |
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| Club Website Chairman’s Update Traditionally these months are quiet ones for anyone involved in running the club. Athletes are getting back to their winter training, competitions are more occasional, and the weather and long nights mean that it is not possible to do as much work at the track. And I am happy to report that so far this autumn many of our committee members have been able to take a deep breath and enjoy a bit of a track break themselves. However, the club remains active, with our cross country teams enjoying their best start to the season for many a year. Our seniors sit on top of the Oxfordshire Cross Country League after the first Round races and our juniors are in medal positions in all age groups. In the Chiltern League, following promotion from Division 2, our teams are showing up extremely well in 5th position overall, higher than we have been for many seasons, and close behind the titans of cross country running Milton Keynes, Chiltern Harriers, St Albans and Bedford and County. A number of our veteran athletes have recently returned from Madeira where they took part in the European Masters Championships – hopefully there will be a full report in this Newsletter. The club has just hosted a successful match for the Chiltern League, featuring 30 clubs and over 1300 athletes. In December we will host the Oxfordshire Cross Country League Round 2 match and in January we will host Round 3 combined with the County Championships. Please get in touch if you wish to participate as a runner or would like to volunteer as part of the hosting team. Richard Hart, November 20th 2025 ——————————————-————— Winter Schedule for the Training Groups *Here are the groups we have dates from, please check in with your coaches for more detail* Quadkids training sessions for Christmas time in the news letter please. We will train on the 17th and 22nd then break for Christmas. Back on track Monday 5th January. Mark Pitts‘ training groups will be closed on 24th and 31st December Mark Bristow’s training group will close from 23rd of Dec to 4th of Jan. Back on the 5th. Gareth Davies‘ training groups will close from 24th Dec to 5th Jan. Back on the 6th Anthony Palman-Brown training groups will close from 19th Dec to 5th Jan. Back on the 6th Ian Marriott’s training groups will be closed on the 25th & 26th of December and 1st of January. Martha Srevens‘ training groups will close from 18th to 4th Jan. Back on the 5th. John Exley group will close from 17th to 5th. Back on 6th Elton Jones’ group of U13/14 will close from Dec 15th to Jan 7th. Neil Pinnel Thursday training group will close from 18th Dec to 8th of Jan. “I train twice on Christmas Day because I know the others aren’t training at all. It gives me two extra days.” — Daley Thompson. ——————————————-————— Cross Country It’s been a busy month for the OCAC Cross Country runners! A total of 18 our junior athletes represented Oxfordshire in the Inter-Counties XC in November and many have also had the opportunity to race for their school in district events or the English Schools cup. Round 3 of the Chiltern League took place in Milton Keynes at the start of December. There were some excellent performances and a big turnout from our senior runners meaning that we are currently sitting in 7th (out of 16) place in Division One. Impressively, we are also sitting in first place (out of 24 clubs) in the Dennis Orme trophy which rewards clubs for improving the number of runners competing in each race compared to the previous season. The second round of the Oxfordshire League made a surprise visit to Horspath in December. A huge thank you goes to everyone who worked behind the scenes to make the race happen after the original Swindon fixture had to be cancelled. The frosty morning and the news that ‘the ditch’ had some water in it didn’t put our junior runners off and we had seven teams finishing in the top three: U9 boys 1st, U11 boys 3rd, U11 girls 1st AND 3rd, U13 girls 2nd, U15 boys 2nd, U15 girls 3rd, U17 Women 1st. The senior runners had a great day out with Melissa Hawtin winning the women’s race and Jonathan Davies finishing 3rd in the men’s. Our seven scorers for the men’s team all finished in the top 30 placing the OCAC men in 1st overall. The Women’s team also finished 1st with only 24 points scored between our top 4 finishers. Next up is the Oxfordshire County Champs to be held once again at Horspath on the 4th January. Your OCAC XC Team managers – John Kentish (juniors), Sarah Davies (women) and Duncan Lawrence (men)     ——————————————-————— Youth Age Groups Cross-Country Success for Leon! Quad Kid Leon, represented his School in a cross-country race organised by Oxfordshire County Council, which took place at Oxford Spires Academy. He competed against about 50 children from 16 schools in his age category. He ran 1.5 km and came first. 💪  English Schools Cross Country Cup Final Great results from Mark Pitt’s training group at English Schools Cross Country Cup Final at Princethorpe College. Senior Girls Amelie Lorimer 7th Charlotte Campbell 14th Emily Channon 62nd (Members of 9th overall senior girls team) Senior Boys Harry Owens 33rd Peter Fleming 102nd (Members of 10th overall senior boys team) Intermediate girls Olivia Wentzel 73rd (Member of 23rd intermediate girls team overall)    ——————————————-————— Sportshall Round 2 Witney – Results U11 Boys – 4th Girls – 5th U13 Boys – 4th Girls – 2nd U15 Boys – 4th Girls – 2nd Congratulations for the following athletes for winning events in the respective sections: Zac Chamberlain 24.3 2 Lap, 1:20.8 6 Lap Track Record! 🥇🥇🏆🔥🔥 Kamil Ubabakar & Zac Chamberlain 1:48.0 Paarluaf 🥇 Lorna Breuker 1:27.4 6 Lap 🥇 Cassie Lo 7.13 Shot Putt 🥇 Millie P Miles 2.14m Long Jump 🥇 Emerald Lewisman 54.8 4 Lap 🥇 George Coyle 7.5m Triple Jump 🥇 Girls U15 Relay Team 🥇 Anna F-Nagy Emerald Lewisman Grace McCulloch Lana Huelsenberg Thank you all for supporting the team, couldn’t happen without you! Next round 25th January at Wantage. ——————————————-————— Results blast Oxfordshire AA Road Race Grand Prix 2025 The Oxfordshire Road Race Grand Prix is competed for over 15 races throughout the season. The races comprise of the: Goring 10K, Banbury 15, White Horse Half Marathon, Motavation1-Charlton, Chalgrove 10K, Thame 10K, Didcot 5, Hooky 6, Alchester 5K, Headington 5, Cotswold Classic 10, Hanney 5, Woodstock 12, Abingdon Marathon and the Eynsham 10K. In each race the first 4 men and first 3 women form the teams. Based on the number of runners turning out in the previous season, Club teams are classed as either large or small. Oxford City are classed as a small team and after this year’s races the Women finished 2nd overall and the Men 3rd in the small teams competition. For full details see https://oxfordshireathletics.org.uk/road-running/grand-prix Eynsham 10K There was a great Oxford City turnout for the Eynsham 10K on the last sunny Sunday of November with some fantastic performances. The Men’s team (pictured below) finished 1st overall. Special mention to Fliss Hannon for a fab run whilst 33 weeks pregnant.  Results: 2nd overall Louis Enskat 32:51 3rd overall Duncan Lawrence 32:54 2nd M40 Neil Pinnell 35:01 3rd M40 Nick Coupe 35:18 1st F50 Sarah Davies 41:34 Chris Wilson 36:11 John Kentish 38:43 Michael Garry 39:28 Lauren Burnhill 39:42 Krystina Reynolds 45:40 Fliss Hannon (+1) 51:35 Links to results from selected events over the past week. Oxford Park Run Bicester Parkrun Harcourt Hill Park Run University Parks Park Run Chiltern Cross Country Match 3 Eynsham 10k BB&O Championships (Berks, Bucks & Oxon) Well done to Rob Doorly, who raced in the Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity XC around Wimbledon common. Well done to Harry Cann, Harry Owens and Peter Fleming for racing with distinction at the recent BBO championships (Berks, Bucks, Oxon) And here is the Club Power of 10 Link ——————————————-————— Any Other Business Lost property, there are lots of items at the club, if you have misplaced anything please come and check. Items must be claimed by Christmas or they will be disposed of. Congratulations to John Exley (OCAC masters men team manager) who took the silver medal at the British Indoor Rowing Championship. Only beaten to the gold medal by the Norwegian champion. John was only 4 seconds short of the championship record! You can still buy Track Passes at The Athlete Centre (TAC) on site. Their opening hours over Christmas are below:  It is the 80th anniversary of the club next year. The Committee is open to ideas as to how to celebrate this, so please get in touch with your thoughts. If you would like to submit content to the Newsletter or highlight a great performance or contribution please send an email to Toby at tobyroguk@gmail.com.  Copyright (C) 2025 Oxford City Athletics Club. All rights reserved |