Saturday 1 December 2007, saw the final event in the 2007 Grand Prix take place at the superb Esporta club in Southampton. Fittingly, it was the Hampshire Fire X/Training challenge, in its 13th year and organised by the highly respected Ty Whitlock that provided a very fitting finale. As with Gorton, the sold out signs were up weeks before the event. There were 131 entries in the programme, including teams, despite the usual late withdrawals for injury and illness.

The Sprint Event

The event kicked off with the Ladies Sprint, with 10 entries, including 3 from the local Esporta club. Kelly Friel obliterated everyone else’s time in race 3 with 7:24. Zoe Bevan was a comfortable second in 9:11 and there was a tight battle for 3rd with Di Mullane edging out Katy England by 4 seconds in 9:30. If Kelly steps up to the Intermediate, she certainly has a bright future ahead of her. There were 13 entries for the Men’s sprint, including 6 from Esporta and X/Training ability obviously runs in the family as Simon Friel took the lead in race 3 with 7:56. A junior competitor, Sam Manning, who had to race on his own, then set a mark of 6:52, which no one else could get close to. Steven Broadley was a comfortable 3rd in 7:15, just 4 seconds behind Richard Saniga, who sadly after one event goes back to Australia with wife Debbie, who has proved to be a more than useful competitor.

Ladies Intermediate

There was a superb entry of 22 in the Ladies Intermediate, including a 13 from the local club. A lot of the excellent timekeepers and judges took part and produced some very competitive times with less than 5 minutes separating the whole field. What is so pleasing for the sport was the fantastic ability shown by three particular newcomers as well as the seasoned campaigners. Best of the early times in the first 5 races were club members Lisa Williams in 17:20, Sarah Hopkins in 17:18 and Louise Nicholson in 17:08, which gave her 3rd in the Masters. Race 6 provided a shock with unknown junior Debbie Sacre scorching down the course in 14:48, which proved to be the fastest time of the day. Ty managed to talk Gemma Yates into taking a wild card entry in the next race and she came very close to beating Debbie, with an excellent 14:55 to take 2nd. Fiona Gemmill, who raced her was the leading club finisher in 16:44. Emma Maggot kept up her improvement with 16:21, but lost her grip on 3rd place to Sarah Holdsworth, who on her debut, achieved an excellent time of 15:12. Sarah had a good race against Caz Waywell, who had only recently returned from injury and her time of 16:10 gave her a well-deserved victory in the masters. Hayley Deighan as always was knocking on the door, but had to settle for 5th in 15:22, comfortably beating Jenny Davies-Hoare, who was 2nd to Carolyne in the Masters in 16:23. The final race between  Sam Saunt and Nicola Humphrey provided some very unexpected drama. Nicola Humphrey kept the pressure on her all the way down the course and Sam had an unexpected problem on the shoulders , which affected her mentally on the run. Nicky secured 3rd in 15:11, beating the very unlucky Sarah Holdsworth by 1 second. Sam, unbelievably finished 6th, but she has had a brilliant year and will no doubt be stronger for the experience.

Men's Intermediate

There were 25 entries for the Men’s Intermediate, including 5 club members. The first race saw Shannon Berry race father Adrian, who went down the Open course. Connell McQuisten has obviously inherited mum’s ability and performed very well. Ben Williams set the early pace with a solid 15:50, but that was eclipsed by both Andy Brown and Alan Taylor who had a titanic battle with Andy coming out on top in 15:20. Unknown David Lightowler eclipsed that in the next race with 14:49 to win the Masters category. Scott Pollock then went down in 14:38 to hold the lead in the Open before a real battle royal took place between Masters John Currell and Keith McGuirk, with John just 7 seconds ahead in 15:15. Keith was very brave, continuing despite pulling a calf muscle on the Treadmill. Lloyd Millichap had a comfortable victory over Russell Stenning to take 2nd in the Open in 13:53. Jamie Fraser and Steve Mead were in a class of their own in the final race with Jamie victorious in 12:27  to Steve’s 12:54. These two guys will be a real force in the Open category next year.

Ladies Open Masters

There were 16 entries in the Ladies Open/Masters and in the first race Michele Wakefield has her best ever race to finish 3rd in the Masters in 27:16. Valerie Ritchie and Mikki Skingsley had a fantastic race  with Valerie coming out on top to take 2nd in the Masters  in 26:15. There was another tight race between Sue Regan-Watts and Sue’s stronger run looked to have given her the race. Trudi knocked out the bench in one hit to pip Sue by 9 seconds. Sue was  the comfortable winner of the Masters however in 23:59. The penultimate race saw another exciting tussle  between Sarah Deed and Catherine Garner- two extremely gutsy competitors. Catherine has burst onto the scene recently and is a tremendous prospect, but had to settle for second best against Sarah, whose 22:15 gave her a best ever finish of 2nd. She gets better and better with every race and will run Becky and KIrsty very close next year. The final race between Becky Nicholas and Jacqui McQuisten sadly turned into a major disappointment with Jaquie retiring on the shoulders. Becky secured victory by 8 seconds in 22:07. She is very popular with all the competitors for her attitude and dedication and was a worthy winner of the Grand Prix.

Mens Open Masters

There were 36 entrants in the the Mens Open/Masters and the early pace was set by Steve Meade, who had finished 2nd in the Intermediate, with a superb time of 23:11. Gary Nicholls and Tony McGarr had an excellent race with Gary securing the Veterans title in 24:18. Simon Bellinger then went down in a time of 23:15, before Paul Morton blitzed the course in an impressive 21:09, that was to win him the Masters title. He has made a fantastic transition from the Intermediate category. Andy Ashurst had his best ever finish in the Masters with 4th in 22:21, just 5 seconds ahead of Phil Talbot. Andy Lett then had a good race against Les Barrow and beat him comfortably in 21:36 to take 2nd place in the Masters and complete what was for him a very consistent and successful season. Rochdale’s Shabir Darr matched Steve Mead’s 23:11 and looks a promising newcomer. Steve Grundy and Ben Stroud had a good close race  with Ben coming out on top in 21:54. Newcomer Chris Lord and Sylburn Miller then produced another close race , with Sylburn the victor in 21:54, which secured 3rd in the Masters. Martin Carter is probably the most improved athlete on the scene and he set the top guys an interesting target of 20:44 to chase in the last 2 races. Nik Kandola was surprisingly a minute behind it in 21:46 and Cai Britton couldn’t match his Gorton performance to get anywhere near it.  Sam Orgee and Jason King jumped onto the treadmill virtually together and Sam’s stronger run and bench secured victory in what was believed to be a course record of 19:53, with Jason close behind in 20:32 for second.. This completed a great season for Sam, with 4 victories and  two 2nd’s behind Hywel.

Final Verdict

Great credit must go to Gary for his dedication and effort in setting up the Grand Prix which has been a fantastic success and has increased participation significantly. Ty and his superb  team of helpers staged another top quality event. Roll on Calso 2008!   

From Sean (worldgymchallenge.com)

Tribute

It's been a tough season, a hard season, one with many a close race. The tribute is to all the X Trainers out there who put the hours in training at the gym and for the gym to not recognise excellence when they see it. Worldgymchallenge.com does, it takes pride in all of it's members achievements and says thank you to you all. You a credit to an Industry that at this moment in time is lacking in respect for all of you and it is my mission to change that.

The year ahead will be equally as tough as this one, with as many hard close races as this one. The difference is X Trainers now have a voice, they are being recognised and publicised, with record and tables showing exactly what they achieve. The benchmark is being set for the rest of the world to try and copy what this sport stands for and the recognition it deserves.

Respect is earnt from achieving greatness in any chosen discipline, football , tennis motor racing - whatever ! But respect is multiplied ten fold, when people do it for the love of the sport. X Training has to find it's feet in recognition by Sport England and whether it's this year or ten years from now, Worldgymchallenge.com will keep the pressure on for all of you outstanding athletes.

I hope the next season will be as great as this one, and that members will support worldgymchallenge.com and all it stands for because it certainly is trying it's best for you all. Good luck in any event you do

Sean