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Oh! Boy - Skip's got his anorak on! - February 12, 2007
So the eighth Surrey League series of the millennium is over, and although Herne Hill have roared to the title again, at least their excellent streak of seven consecutive race wins is finally at an end. It was great to be back on Ranelagh’s magnificent home course for the fifth time this century, but for the first time in three years. As a celebration of this, I have put together an illuminating table of the 20 most regular performers at Petersham from 2000-2007, to seek out the most consistent and successful performers. The list comprises of seven men who have run all five races and another six who have done four. The selection of runners with three appearances is slightly more subjective and opts for the most well known, consistent or classy in that band.
The consistency mark is calculated by dividing the runner’s highest finishing position by his lowest. This is a fairly accurate marker, although Stuart Major is somewhat a victim of his own success, but cashes in big time elsewhere. Marcus Gohar is an anomaly since he is the sixth most consistent runner…but the fifth most unpredictable.
Only two Belgravians feature in the list, but a special mention should go to Stephen Sharp and Mal Byansi (two races each), who, if included in the list would wreak havoc with the stats… Sharpy’s two finishes are 1 and 1; whereas maniac Mal’s are 74th and, er, 6th. The other race winners (Sam Haughian, Dave Taylor and David Anderson) all appeared once each.
Of the 80 positions listed, a mere fifteen are top 10 finishes – four belonging to Major and two each to Lockett, Prickett and Moses; and just four are top 5. It shows how difficult it is to finish in the top ten of the Surrey League, and how, the faster a runner is, the more rarely sighted he becomes.
One has to love the mind-numbing monomania that is “Weiro”. 13th in 2000, and then 2790 days later in 2007, 13th again. And his average finish in the meantime, rounded up? 13th. What an interesting guy.
Most featured Surrey League Division 1 runners at Richmond Park, Petersham
2000-2007
Runners bracketed (alphabetically) into number of runs
Name
|
Name |
Club |
Runs |
2000 |
2001 |
2003 |
2004 |
2007 |
avge pos/consistency |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Andy Bickerstaff |
RAN |
5 |
76 |
82 |
63 |
77 |
65 |
72.6 / 1.30 |
|
Will Cockerell |
BEL |
5 |
25 |
20 |
10 |
15 |
19 |
17.8 / 2.50 |
|
Marcus Gohar |
RAN |
5 |
56 |
50 |
40 |
38 |
70 |
50.8 / 1.84 |
|
Tony Harran |
HHH |
5 |
65 |
39 |
39 |
32 |
42 |
43.4 / 2.03 |
|
Knut Hegvold |
BEL |
5 |
29 |
21 |
34 |
25 |
31 |
28.0 / 1.62 |
|
Iain Lockett |
HHH |
5 |
55 |
61 |
9 |
11 |
10 |
29.2 / 6.77 |
|
Dave Symons |
THH |
5 |
54 |
111 |
22 |
24 |
28 |
47.8 / 5.04 |
|
Paul Doyle |
RAN |
4 |
- |
68 |
44 |
30 |
27 |
42.25 / 2.51 |
|
Stuart Major |
SLH |
4 |
6 |
9 |
3 |
7 |
- |
6.25 / 3.00 |
|
Ali Moses |
RPR |
4 |
- |
3 |
13 |
8 |
18 |
10.50 / 6.00 |
|
Keith Newton |
HHH |
4 |
24 |
22 |
7 |
- |
26 |
19.75 / 3.71 |
|
Andy Weir |
THH |
4 |
13 |
- |
16 |
9 |
13 |
12.75 / 1.77 |
|
Simon Wurr |
THH |
4 |
- |
10 |
15 |
17 |
21 |
15.75 / 2.10 |
|
Nick Altmann |
THH |
3 |
17 |
14 |
5 |
- |
- |
12.0 / 3.4 |
|
Mickey Boyle |
HHH |
3 |
33 |
12 |
- |
12 |
- |
19.0 / 2.75 |
|
Pete Haarer |
RAN |
3 |
- |
- |
20 |
19 |
33 |
22.66 / 1.73 |
|
Robbie James |
SLH |
3 |
19 |
11 |
- |
14 |
- |
14.66 / 1.72 |
|
Hugh Jones |
RAN |
3 |
12 |
- |
27 |
- |
38 |
25.66 / 3.16 |
|
Ed Prickett |
RPR |
3 |
- |
17 |
2 |
10 |
- |
9.66 / 8.50 |
|
Dave Robinson |
HHH |
3 |
22 |
16 |
12 |
- |
- |
16.66 / 1.83 |
Best average finishes:
Major 6th
Prickett 9th
Moses 10th
Altmann 12th
Weir 12.75th
James 14th
Wurr 15th
Robinson 16th
Cockerell 17th
Boyle 19th
Most consistent (Highest finishing pos divided by lowest):
Bickerstaff 1.3
Hegvold 1.6
James 1.72
Haarer 1.73
Weir 1.77
Robinson 1.83
Gohar 1.84
Harran 2.0
Wurr 2.1
Cockerell 2.5
Most flamboyant (Highest finishing pos divided by lowest):
Prickett 8.5
Lockett 6.7
Moses 6.0
Symons 5.0
Newton 3.7
Most predictable (range of finishing positions):
Major 6
Weir 7
James 8
Robinson 10
Wurr 11
Least predictable:
Symons 89
Lockett 52
Doyle 41
Harran 33
Gohar 32
Smallest disparity between 2000 performance and 2007
Weir 0
Hegvold -2
Newton -2
Cockerell +6
Bickerstaff +11
Most improved 2007 runner compared to 2000 performance
Lockett +45
Symons +26
Harran +23
Best represented clubs:
Herne Hill 5
Ranelagh 5
Thames 4
Belgrave 2
Reigate 2
South London 2
