11 December, 2011
European Cross Country Championships: Velenje, Slovenia
Event: Cross Country
Time: 25th –
Andy's Blog
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Posted: 18 December, 2011
My results from the: European Cross Country Championships
Category: Competition
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Posted: 18 December, 2011
Team spirit, early mornings, late night weeing and some cross country
Category: Competition, MiscellaneousSo I’m back in the UK after a whirlwind trip to Velenje in Slovenia for the European Cross Country Championships. On the way out, the taxi picked me up at 4.45am, and we arrived at the team hotel at around 5pm. On the way home, we boarded the bus at 3.50am and shortly thereafter my ability to speak, think or tell the time deserted me. Still, it could have been worse, I could have been the person who stayed up all night after having stolen the mascot’s outfit, eaten at least 5 desserts, and thrown up at the hotel.
The thing that struck me the most on the trip was the camaraderie and passion of the coaches and athletes involved in British cross country. Mud, rain and cold don’t scream glamour or money, but they do breed respect amongst those crazy enough to take part. Cross country is tough, but it is incredibly rewarding, and for me it’s a really important opportunity to test my fitness.
Team course inspection
So test it I did, and whilst I was disappointed to finish 25th the time gaps were small, and the fantastic team performance that saw us come away with team silver medals went a long way towards cheering me up! Regardless of how fast the early pace was – it felt fast. I got a terrible start, and spent the race working hard to move through as I negotiated the eight lap course. Rhythm breaking is the nature of cross country, but the tight twisty course really stopped me from finding mine – I felt great on the straighter, faster sections, but was cornering like a ferry!
Post race it was podium time (we were beaten to team gold by a very strong French team), then back to the hotel for massage and a quick change before the banquet. It definitely takes the shine off the evening when you have a 3.30am alarm hanging over you! Finally we undertook the bus, plane, plane, train, bus journey back home where it was time to catch up on some sleep. Or at least that was what I had hoped until there was a knock on the door at 10.15pm as the drugs testers showed up. Which meant that the evening ended with the surreal experience of watching a question of sport at 11pm with my long-suffering wife as two strange men waited for me to pee. Brill.
Footnote: check out a great blog on the GB cross country team here
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Posted: 6 December, 2011
My results from the: European Cross Country Trials
Category: Competition26 November, 2011European Cross Country Trials: Liverpool, UKEvent: Cross CountryTime: 29:26 – 4th
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Posted: 6 December, 2011
In the News: Andy Baddeley produces excellent run in Liverpool
Category: In the NewsSource: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk, Published: 1 December, 2011ANDY BADDELEY delivered the goods at Sefton Park to qualify for a place at the forthcoming European Cross Country Championships
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Posted: 6 December, 2011
Kenya and cross country
Category: CompetitionTrainingIt’s been a little while, so now it’s time for a recap of recent goings on…
Since the end of the track season, I’ve knuckled down to some regular hard work in the gym (getting “massive”), and built back up to full winter training. This has meant cracking out a few sessions in the Mecca of distance running that is Bushy Park in SW London. I’ve been accompanied at various points by Mark Draper, Mike Skinner, Benedict Whitby and Scott Overall (selected today for the marathon for Team GB – congrats Scott!), and have spotted Jo Pavey, Mara Yamauchi and Sonia O’Sullivan putting the miles in at various points.
After building up training in London, I headed off to Lornah Kiplagat‘s high altitude training centre in Iten, Kenya for a month of solid training at close to 8000ft. Having been there in March I knew what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised to find that a whole new block of accomodation had sprung up in my absence. We were made to feel incredibly welcome, and a huge thank you goes out to Willy Songok for his hospitality!
Rain and moths didn’t stop us getting some great training done, and the banter with the other guys on the London Marathon camp kept us all entertained. Every day someone would be christened with a new nickname – amongst the best were Lady Gaga, Chuckie, Ellen Degeneres and Quasimodo. I’ll leave it to your imagination to assign athletes to nicknames, but suffice it to say that Jonny Hay invited a fair amount of ridicule.
A group of us flew back from Kenya to compete in the European Cross Country Trials in Liverpool last Saturday, with an overnight journey entailing two flights to contend with just 48 hours before competition. I enjoy being able to go home (I grew up in the NW on the Wirral), and turned up at the race ready to give myself a good winter fitness test.
The course is over three laps making up 9.8km, and whilst it was soft, there wasn’t much mud. As ever, the first 400m was pretty quick and I settled into the top 30. As the race progressed I moved through, always making sure I was with the leading group as the wind and pace took their toll. The group dwindled, until inside the last km it was down to six of us. It was also at this point that I started to feel it, and knew that the other guys were really trying to run the finish out of everyone. I managed to get through to fourth, with the finishing straight seeming to go on forever!
In finishing fourth, I earned a spot on the GB team for the upcoming European Championships in Velenje, Slovenia, and am currently getting ready to fly out at the end of the week. The race is 10km and is made up of eight (!) laps. It is being streamed live here, and will be on BBC 2 from 12.30 on Sunday.
Check back in next week to hear how it went, and whether Jonny Hay has acquired a new nickname. I’ll also be writing more about my Kenya trip, and looking forward to Christmas and 2012!