PECO: 2023/24 in historical context

by Michael Vargas

In what is now becoming a bit of a tradition, I have a few statistics and figures from this seasons PECO campaign and can provide a bit of historical context as to where the PECO class of 2023/24 ranks against HPH sides of PECO past. Lucky for us that the bigwigs at PECO haven’t yet joined the trend of removing all the statistics from their website…. lets not give them any ideas. I’d like to start by thanking our Captains for all their efforts over the season, we all appreciate it and a well done to anyone who took part…. especially at Temple Newsam, that course was truly brutal this year! So as with my previous PECO historical context blogs, it’s very numbers and statistics based (no doubt catering for those with a statistics fetish) and is ordered to reflect our club priorities: participation, followed by team, followed by individual.

So starting with participation, it would seem the Men’s team steal the limelight on this occasion with a record breaking 80 men taking part in at least 1 round of PECO. The previous record was 78 from the 2021/22 season. So well done all that took part! Of these 80 men, 42 were veterans, this sadly doesn’t break any records but is as close as you’ll get, equaling the 2021/22 season participation record. Moving onto the Ladies team, this year we had 55 ladies take part in at least 1 round of PECO. This is slightly down on last years record of 62 ladies and places the 2023/24 Ladies team 3rd for participation in the clubs history (second was 59 ladies in 2022/23). Of the 55 ladies taking part, 19 were veterans which is joint 3rd with the 2019/20 season and only just slightly below the record 21 and second placed 20 of the 2022/23 and 2021/22 seasons respectively.

Moving onto team performance, this time we’ll start with the Ladies Vet team. Last season the Ladies Vet team were relegated from the Premier Division to the First Division. Sadly there wasn’t an instant return this year, however 3rd place isn’t bad at all and only missing out on promotion by a single point! There is definitely a solid foundation to build on for next season and hopefully we can strengthen the side for next season. One issue that has dogged the Ladies Vet team this year has been points penalties, with the team unable to field a 65+ lady in any round this season. So if anyone happens to know any ladies in that age category who may enjoy running and a bit of mud then do try and get them involved, anyone in this age category will be massively important to the team. So in a historical context, the Ladies Vet team ranks joint 6th with the 2011/12 season. Obviously the team could not rank higher then when the Ladies Vet team were in the Premier Division or higher finishes in the ‘one massive league’ format of long ago. The last time the Ladies Vet team were in the First Division they finished 2nd and were promoted and this side finished just short of that. The 2023/24 team is definitely at the higher end of what the team has produced historically.

Moving on to the Men’s Vet team. After a slow start to the campaign they finished 6th in the Premier Division, which ranks as joint 3rd of all time, matching the 6th place of the class of the 2012/13. Although on paper not the greatest Men’s Vet team of all time, they certainly aren’t far off with the class of 2023/24 only just behind the record of 5th place set by the class of 2009/10 and matched last season by the class of 2022/23. Well done gentlemen, the Men’s Vet team looks to be in a really healthy place at the minute. It should also be noted there wasn’t a single points penalty for the team this season as an athlete was fielded in all age categories every race. Well done for turning out gentlemen!

This season saw our Ladies team rank a solid mid table 4thin the Premier Division, well done ladies! Coincidentally this also ranks the 2023/24 Ladies team 4th on the all time list behind the 2017/18 championship winning side as well as the 2nd and 3rd placed sides of 2021/22 and 2022/23 respectively. The trend for the ladies team does appear to be going slightly down, but in a historical context this team is doing really well compared to some of the sides of the past and seems to have arrested a previous trend of ‘yo-yoing’ between divisions.

What goes up must eventually come down. After back to back championships, the Men’s team have dropped from top spot and finished runners up in the Premier Division. Although I am sure the men will be disappointed to miss out on a 3rd championship, historically speaking this is still a fantastic result. As you may have guessed the class of 2023/24 ranks 3rd on the all time list behind those 2021/22 and 2022/23 championship winning sides. With any luck the men will dust themselves off, pick themselves up and come back to challenge for the title next season….. it doesn’t look right with Valley holding it anyway.

Now to give a few individuals a little mention. Who were our highest ranked athletes? Starting with the ladies, it would appear Ruth Draisey has cleaned up! Ruth was our highest ranked lady and highest ranked vet with her 23rd overall ranking, well done Ruth! Historically speaking, that places Ruth 10th overall for highest ranked HPH lady in between Alison Boyle’s 24th place in the 2011/12 season and Rebecca Grey’s 16th place in the 2016/17 season. The highest ranked HPH lady of all time remains Jocelyn Payne with 2nd overall in 2012/13. Ruth ranks 4th overall in the all time list for highest ranked HPH vet lady, in between Honor Baldry’s (V35) 14th place in the 2022/23 season and Helen Williams (V35) 38th place in the 2012/13 season.

Moving onto the men and this year our highest ranked athlete was Adam Lomas who was ranked 7th overall. This places Adam in joint 6th on the all time list alongside a gentleman who prefers not to be named. Adam’s 7th place sandwiches him in between Alec Francis’ 6th place in 2016/17 and Kevin Ogden’s back to back 8th places in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons. The highest ranked HPH man of all time is Ben Douglas who was 1st in the 2022/23 season, an achievement that can never be beaten, only equaled. As for the Men’s Vet team, a new edition to the world of V35’s is our beloved George Anderson who ranked 12th overall. This places George joint 6th on the all time list alongside a gentlemen who prefers not to be named. George’s 6th place puts him in a Michael Vargas (V35) Sandwich (lucky guy) with 11th and 14th place finishes in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons respectively. The highest ranked male vet remains Kevin Ogden (V40) in the 2012/13 season where he ranked 4th overall.

I hope you have enjoyed the read. If you are missing the mud, remember we still have PECO relays to go (if this goes on the website before then). I look forward to next season to see if we can break any more records whether that be participation, team or individual.

Until next year

Michael Vargas