Richard Goodman has the talent to go to the very top!

Monday eve 6KM Roo 27m37

My knee hurt, I had forgotten to take an anti inflammatory tablet, but still the pain worried me. Decided to rest it today Tues.

Update on young Richard Goodman. A fantastic performance in the European XC Champs 5th place 3yrs underage! He took the lead at one point in this race!

My old Club Reported;

Richard Goodman hits Team Gold for GB U20s at European Champs in Dublin 14th Dec 2009

On yet another memorable day for GB cross country runners there were a host of GB medalists at the European Cross Country Champs which were held at a tight, picturesque Santry course in the northern suburbs of Dublin. Hayley Yelling led the way with a 'gun to tape' win in the Senior Womens' race while Mo Farah collapsed over the finish line as he won Silver in the Mens race. Nearly all the GB teams won team medals. Shaftesbury were delighted to be represented by Richard Goodman in the Under 20 race and he did both himself and coach Geoff Williams proud as he placed 5th in the race and was third scorer in a dominant display by the GB team who secured Team Gold medals. The multi lap course needed total concentration and while Richard had won the UK trial in Liverpool on a very muddy course, four days of sunny weather had dried out the course although the corners had remained slippery. Never out of the top six Richard (here seen battling it out with fellow Brit Nick Goolab) covered all of the early breaks but when there was a final effort led by team mate James Wilkinson with about one kilomtre to go he struggled to respond and a small gap emerged behind the three man breakaway group. A dramatic chase ensued with the Belgian winner Jeroen D'Hodet just holding off a final surge from GB's Nick Goolab (2nd) and James Wilkinson (3rd) with 5th placed Goodman just 9 secs off victory as he held off the fast finishing Portugese and Servian runners in chasing down early leader Moen of Norway who finished 4th. This was great experience for Goodman as he was the youngest runner in the race and potentially has three more years in this age group. Great to see Paul 'Skoffer' Simons flying the Humbug supporters flag in Ireland. He was recently selected as a reserve for the England M45 team. Full results can be downloaded by going to http://www.european-athletics.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1color]