WMYACCL Young Athletes4th Fixture Report.

beth wmyaccl

The Next Fixture for the WMYACCL is

Race Times as below.

The fixtures are as follows:

12th October – Hatton Country World Warwick

16th November – Aldersley , Wolverhampton

7th December – Warley Woods Park

18th January – Mallory Park, Kirkby Mallory

15th February – Perry Park, B-ham

TIMETABLE:

Time    Age Group    Max Distance
11.00    U/17 Women    4000m
11.25    U/11 Boys    1600m
11.40    U17 Men    4800m
12.05    U/11 Girls    1600m
12.20    U/15 Boys    3200m
12.40    U/13 Girls    2500m
13.00    U/13 Boys    2500m
13.20     U/15 Girls    3200m

The  full results are available on www.wmyaccl.com

 Race Reports By Paul Tabor:

Burbage Common:

The penultimate race of the season saw us visit Burbage common, hosted by Nuneaton harriers.  This was another new venue for the young athletes league, but was a venue familiar to some of our senior athletes who had raced there previously.  Conditions on the day were mixed to say the least…. freezing temperatures meant the majority of the course was rock hard, but the two sections through the woods, were thick mud.  Proper cross country conditions!!!.

The club remained in second place in the league going into this event, and look well positioned to maintain that until the end of the season. As always, we couldn’t let the momentum dip, and needed full teams in each age group to keep this position intact.

The under 17 women were thin on the ground and were grateful to have Leah Rutter, Amelia Silk and Gemma Evans turn out to ensure we had the three minimum athletes on the day. Once again Amelia Silk led the team home, which followed her qualification for the English schools competition at Warley woods the previous day. Gemma Evans was second counter on the day, but Leah Rutter produced her best performance of the season for the club at this race..

Finishing positions were: Amelia Silk     7th, Gemma Evans     15th, Leah Rutter           25th

 For the series as a whole, Amelia Silk remains in 4th overall, with Leah Rutter 15th. The girls are now 17 points ahead of Solihull in third position and just need one more good performance from three girls to maintain at position.

The under 11 boys have had a pretty consistent year, which has been shown through the brilliant turnouts at each race.  This race witnessed Tyler Francis lead the team home in 11th, but the major surprise was Ellis Carter following closely behind in a superb 14th postion.  Ellis has now shown the way forward for the rest of the boys, and we know that there are a few other lads who can also get towards the front of each race like Ellis.  Remaining team scorers were

Tyler Francis 11th, Ellis Carter 14th, Jayden Meath 40th, Callum McDermott 45th, Brady Watkinson 55th,

Remaining finishers: Charlie Ward 74th, Levi Lawrence 77th, Griffin Mobey 79th, Harrison Shale 95th

Ellis Carter is our leading athlete in the series in 15th position.  With the series being best 4 of 5, Tyler Francis is very likely to jump into the top after the final race at Burchfield. As a team the under 11 boys have risen to fifth and have an outside chance of catching 4th with a strong final race.

Third race was the under 17 men.  Jamie ward returned to form by finishing 6th, followed by harry Cresswell in 9th and Ellis Garamszegi in 10th.  Tyrone Johnson was our final competitor in 42nd. The team have remained in bronze medal position, although Rugby did regain some of the ground they had lost previously.  Team bronze now almost secured.  Overall individual series positions as follows:

Jamie Ward 5th, Ellis Garamzegi 7th, Harry Cresswell 10th, Tyrone Johnson 16th, Billy Starling 26th

Our strongest category this season has been the under 11 girls, and this again proved to be the case.  Brogan Pugh was missing due to a couple of minor injuries which theoretically weakened the team. Not a bit of it.

The race was won by Elizabeth Marshall, who sealed her third race victory of the season, which also followed her Staffs championships victory at Aldersley a couple of weeks earlier. Aliya Westwood recovered from a poor start to finish second, and the ever improving grace Smith finished 4th.  Behind Grace came Megan Davies, in easily her best finish of the season in 9th, and Keeley Beckham produced a stunning performance to finish 12th. The girls were again first on the day, and are now well clear in first place, and have secured the gold medal for the season.  A fantastic team performance from all of the under 11 girls.

Remaining finishers on the day were : Beth Dyall 20th, Isabella Ferrara 41st, Olivia McDermott 93rd, Millie Dubberley 96th

Individually, Elizabeth Marshall leads the standings and can’t be caught at the head of the series table.  Aliya Westwood is second and looks good to take silver.  Behind those two we have Grace Smith in 6th, Deth Dyall 8th and Megan Davies 11th. At the final race it’s very likely we could see all of those girls plus Brogan, finish the season in the top ten overall, which is nothing more than they deserve.

Under 15 boys were next up, with a new addition to the squad, Alex Blair competing for the club for the first time.  Ryan Hodgkiss again led the team home led the team home in sixth position, with Harry Dyall 17th and Matt Hogg 24th. The remaining team members were:

Jordi Ray-Partoon 50th, James Aitken 57th, Alex Blair 63rd, Owain Morris 67th

The boys were again 3rd on the day and remain in a very comfortable bronze medal position overall.  Ryan Hodgkiss is in bronze medal position in the overall standings as well.  Matt Hogg and Harry Dyall can make the top ten overall with top ten finishes at Birchfield.

The under 13 girls were at full strength at Burbage. Lydia Silk continued her good from with a finish in 16th position, with Becky Loundes 36th, Louise Saul-Braddock 65th, Ellis Willis 77th and Caitlin Price 92nd completing the team scoring positions. The remaining competitors on the day were:

Lily Pearson 99th, Halee Robinson 126th, 

Halee Robinson showed tremendous spirit to finish the race, having lost one of her spikes early in the race

Overall the girls lie 9th with Lydia being our leading individual in 10th.

The penultimate race was the under 13 boys race where Adam Saul Braddock would need to win to try and maintain a chance of winning the overall competition.  Despite his trademark kick finish, Adam finished second on the day.  The weekend was a success for Adam though, as he also qualified for the English Schools cross country the previous day. The remaining finishers were:

Joel Humpage 40th, Leon Haffie-Hobday 48th, Louie Lambeth 88th, Thomas James 99th, Steven Dandy 106th

The under 13 boys finished 10th on the day and are 5th overall, just 11 points behind 4th placed Coventry.

The final race was the under 15 girls.  Amelia Samuels repeated her win from the English school s qualifier with another victory, which confirmed her overall series victory.  A massive achievement this, considering that Amelia has another year left as an under 15!!!

The remaining team positions were:

Zoe Brickley 24th, Beth Tabor 32nd, Lucy Evans 37th, Angel Evans 53rd, Camilla Oliver 68th, Ashleigh Miles 71st

Ashleigh completed the course without any spikes, which had mysteriously gone missing before the race.  Full credit to Ashleigh for carrying on and getting the job done.  The girls finished 6th on the day, and are remain in 5th place overall.

The final race is on Sunday 15th February at Perry Park, home of Birchfield Harriers.  Individual and team medals will be distributed soon after each race, so please stay to collect those as necessary.  This has been by far our best ever cross country season, so let’s give the final race our full focus and finish the season on a massive high.

 

Overall points and league standings below.

 

  1. Rugby And Northampton
26877
  1. Wolves & Bilston
24533
  1. Halesowen
24127
  1. Royal Sutton
21617
  1. Stratford
21403
  1. Birchfield
20114
  1. Bromsgrove
20008
  1. Solihull and Small Heath
18754
  1. Tipton Harriers
17549
  1. Coventry Godiva
17170
  1. Tamworth
16355
  1. Leamington
14670
  1. Cannock And Staffs
13896
  1. Nuneaton
12022
  1. Dudley and Stourbridge
9006
  1. Kenilworth
7726
  1. BRAT
7500
  1. Sparkhill
5906
  1. Sphinx
4807

 

 

Warley Woods

The third race of the season saw us visit Warley Woods for an event hosted by Tipton harriers.  This was a new venue for the young athletes league, and those who had previously taken part in schools representatives races, knew it was a very tough and hilly course, which would be a true test of fitness and endurance.

Lying in second place in the league going into this event, we needed a suitably strong performance to keep the momentum going and maintain our lead over the improving Halesowen team.  We had a considerable numbers of athletes pull out in the days leading up to the race with illness, and we were worried we may not have full teams in all the age groups. If that was the case, we would likely to have been overtaken by Halesowen.  Fortunately, we managed to complete teams in all races which is the minimum requirement.

The under 17 women were looking to try and improve on their positions from the Aldersley event, but injuries meant that Issy Cotham and Jess Clark were unable to compete.  Amelia Silk continued her outstanding season to finish fifth on the day, Mollie Perkins had her best race of the season for 8th with Gemma Evans completing the teams scoring position in 20th.  .Finishing positions were: Amelia Silk         5th, Molly Perkins      19th, Gemma Evans    20th,Leah Rutter  28th

 Amelia Silk is now lying 4th overall, just one point behind an individual bronze medal for the series.

This performance has enabled the girls to leapfrog Solihull into third position overall. It’s going to be close for the final two races, buts fingers crossed that the girls can maintain this excellent level of performance.

The under 11 boys had shown considerable improvement at Aldersley, and were looking to build on that for this event.  As the race unfolded, Tyler Francis and Brady Watkinson, were having very strong races in the top 20, with a number of the lads about 20 places behind.  Strong finishes from the boys in the following pack saw them push into the mid 30 finishing positions.  Coaches have noted that the boys are relying on their sprint finishes too much, and need to push up in the top 20 early on in the races, which will lead to much higher finishing positions.  However, great effort by all saw the lads home in fourth on the day, and now lie 5th overall. Team scorers were

Tyler Francis 14th, Brady Watkinson 22nd, Ellis Cater 36th, Henry Willis 37th, Callum McDermott 39th

Remaining finishers: Leo Tonks 44th, Tom Hipwood 61st, Charlie Ward 66th, Jayden Meath 72nd

Third race saw the under 17 men, and for the first time this season, we had Billy Starling running for the club.  Ellis Garamszegi had his best finish of the season in 8th position, as did Harry Cresswell in 14th, just behind Jamie Ward in 13th.  The team have now moved into bronze medal position, even though they were fourth on the day.  .  Scorers and finishers as follows:

Ellis Garamzegi 8th, Jamie Ward 13th, Harry Cresswell 14th, Tyrone Johnson 24th, Billy Starling 26th

Fourth event was the under 11 girls race, and the main question seemed to be which one of our girls would win.  Secondly, is a 1,2,3 on the cards?? It turned out that Elizabeth Marshall again ran a very tactically astute race, and took command in the final half mile.  Aliya Westwood showed a great turn of speed to finish second.  Grace Smith again showed her improvement for 5th place, and the 1,2,3 could be in the cards for the final two events.  The girls were again first on the day, and are now well clear in first place, with Gold medal for the team almost assured.  Great team performances from everyone involved.

Elizabeth Marshall 1st, Aliya Westwood 2nd, Grace Smith 5th, Beth Dyall 12th, Brogan Pugh 13th, Megan Davies 21st, Isabella Ferrara 36th, Olivia McDermott 84th, Millie Dubberley 88th

Individually, Elizabeth Marshall is leading the standings with Aliya Westwood 5 points behind in second place,

Under 15 boys followed the under 11 girls race, and looked to be at full strength with Matt Hogg returning to the team. Ryan Hodgkiss again led the team home led the team home in fifth position, with Matt Hogg 8th .  Illness restricted Harry Dyall to 26th, with Joe starling returning to club colours in 34th and Jordi Ray-Partoon in 42nd.  The remaining team members were

James Aitken 43rd, Owain Morris 66th

The boys were again 3rd on the day and are also in a very comfortable bronze medal position overall.  Ryan Hodgkiss is in bronze medal position in the overall standings as well.

The under 13 girls were particularly affected by illness and injury which weakened the team.  Credit goes to Lydia Silk who produced probably the best performance of the day to finish 7th.  In terms of the team score, the girls were 9th, and also lie 9th overall.  The remaining scorers and finishers were:

Louise Saul-Braddock 33rd, Abigail Preston 67th , Lily Pearson 103rd, Halee Robinson 116th, Rudee Robinson 117th, Madeline Richardson 128th

The penultimate race was the under 13 boys race where we were hoping Adam Saul Braddock would be able to repeat his victory at Aldersley.  As it turned out, his main rival from Rugby put in a tremendous performance to finish 14 seconds ahead of Adam. Behind Adam the remaining finishers were:

Leon Haffie-Hobday 32nd, Joel Humpage 43rd, Louie Lambeth 58th, Thomas James 78th, Steven Dainty 87th

The under 13 boys finished 6th on the day and have moved up to 5th overall.  Adam Saul-Braddock is in silver position overall, just one point behind the gold medal position.

The final race was the under 15 girls.  Once again, Amelia Samuels showed considerable maturity to sit on the leaders for the first lap, then power away in the final mile to win comfortably. Amelia leads the overall standings in this age group, which is an amazing performance considering she is at the bottom age of under 15s, in what is a very high quality level of athletes.  Behind Amelia, the remaining team positions were:

Beth Tabor 28th, Zoe Brickley 31st, Angel Evans 38th, Ashleigh Miles 44th, Camilla Oliver 67th

Comfortably seasons best finishes for Angel, Ashleigh and Camilla.  The girls finished 5th on the day, and are now comfortably in 5th place overall.

This report opened with reference to the number of athletes we had missing, and the fact we were likely to be under threat from Halesowen.  As it transpired, we still managed to finish second on the day, with Halesowen again finishing very close behind.  This underlines the strength in depth we currently have within the club.  We now have a 400 point lead over Halesowen, but two more well supported races at Mallory Park and Perry Park, will see us finish in second place in the league.

The penultimate race is on Sunday 18th January at Mallory Park, Leicestershire.  This is a new venue to the league, so please arrive early, as we are unsure of parking arrangements at this time.

Before the league race, we have the Staffordshire championships at Aldersley on 3rd January.  Please let your coaches know if you are able to attend this race.  Also, entries for midland Championships at Wollarton Park, Nottingham on 24 January and national championships at Hampstead heath, London on 21st February, need to be submitted before Christmas.  All these events incur a cost per athlete, so please confirm you are able to attend as soon as possible.  Having confirmed entry, and it transpires that your child does not attend these races, the club would kindly request reimbursement of the entry fee.  Your support is appreciated on this matter.

Overall points and league standings below.

 

  1. Rugby And Northampton
20091
  1. Wolves & Bilston
18425
  1. Halesowen
18050
  1. Stratford
16349
  1. Royal Sutton
16132
  1. Bromsgrove
15144
  1. Birchfield
15014
  1. Solihull and Small Heath
14170
  1. Tipton Harriers
13371
  1. Coventry Godiva
13217
  1. Tamworth
12196
  1. Leamington
10865
  1. Cannock And Staffs
10784
  1. Nuneaton
8937
  1. Dudley and Stourbridge
7204
  1. Kenilworth
6409
  1. BRAT
5947
  1. Sparkhill
4827
  1. Sphinx
3538

 

 

Aldersley Wolverhampton

We were on home soil for the second match of the league season, and looking to better our impressive start at Warwick a few weeks earlier.  A revised course had been set out by Colin Thompson and the team with a new start, which incorporated a 200m uphill stretch into the hammer field, with a new loop into the old railway line, before taking in most of the old course buy synthroid usa familiar to everyone. A large number of our young athletes had represented the West Midlands at the inter counties cup, the previous day, so there were a number of weary bodies before the races began…

We were fortunate to have a full team of all our eligible under 17 girls on the start line for the first race.  Birchfield’s women had a very strong race finishing in the first three positions, but our girls performed admirably.  Amelia Silk once again led the team home, with another strong run the day after being one of the counters in the West Midlands team.  Also, worthy of mention is Issy Cotham returning from injury and completing the course.  However, Gemma Evans had her best performance in a wolves and Bilston vest to finish 18th.  The girls finished 4th on the day, and have slipped to 4th positon after two races.  Finishing positions were:

Amelia Silk          11th, Issy Cotham       16th, Gemma Evans   18th, Molly Perkins      19th,  Leah Rutter         38th

The under 11 boys were looking for a much better race than they had at Warwick, and were also at full strength.  In fact, we had 16 athletes, in what was our best supported race of the day.  Tyler Francis was making his competitive debut for the club, and had a tremendous race to finish 9th.  Once Tyler gets back to full fitness, don’t be surprised to see him at the front end of the remaining events. As a team the boys improved their overall score from 819 to 875, and we still feel there remains room for improvement from all the lads. The boys finished 4th on the day, and now lie 5th overall.  They have an outside chance of a team medal if they can gain further points in the final three events.  Scorers on the day were

Tyler Francis 9th, Levi Lawrence 20th, Henry Willis 29th, Ellis Carter 33rd, Leo Tonks 39th,

Remaining finishers:  Brady Watkinson 40th, Jayden Meath 44th’ ,Tom Hipwood 50th, Charlie Ward 52nd , Callum McDermott 56th

Josh Tomlinson 86th,  Harrison Shale 102nd, George Edge 106th, Beau Guy 113rd

Third race saw the under 17s, and it’s great to report that we again had a great team representing the club, with only Harry Halford missing.  This is proving a high quality age group this year, but our lads are showing their mettle against the competition.  Birchfield again showed they have great strength in this age group, but our under 17 men finished fourth, and are also fourth overall.  Again, team medals are possible in this age group.  Scorers and finishers as follows:

Ellis Garamzegi 13th,  Jamie Ward 14th, Harry Cresswell 17th, Tom Pryor 28th, Tyrone Johnson 30th, Sam Griffiths 44th

Fourth event was the under 11 girls race, who were looking to improve on their incredible first race at Warwick.  They didn’t disappoint.  From the gun we had at least 7 of our girls right at the front of the race.  Elizabeth Marshall took the lead coming out of the hammer field and look set to repeat her first race victory.  However, Aliya Westwood ran an incredibly mature race, and took the lead off the final bend to win, and bring in a 1-2 for the club with Liz finishing second.  The girls were spurred on by their opponent from Stratford goading by saying they couldn’t beat her.  Let’s hope she tries that next time!!!!  Credit to Aliya, who had a few frustrating races last year, with second place finishes, and also overcoming her disappointment of the first event.  Grace Smith took on board the advice from the previous race and had a much better start to finish 6th on the day. In fact, our five counters were all in the top twelve places.  The girls were again first on the day, and have cemented their lead after two races.

Aliya Westwood 1st, Elizabeth Marshall 2nd,  Grace Smith 6th,  Brogan Pugh 7th’ Beth Dyall 12th’ Megan Davies 18th’ Keeley Beckham 42nd, Isabella Ferrara 43rd , Millie Dubberley 92nd Daisy Guy 118th

Under 15 boys followed the under 11 girls race. Ryan Hodgkiss again led the team home led the team home in another fourth position, with Harry Dyall in 15th, James Aitken (in his first XC for the club) 39th and Jordi Ray-Partoon in 52nd .  The remaining team members were

Oliver Evans 63rd, Owain Morris 73rd,  Niall Clear 74th, 

The boys were 3rd on the day and are also in a very comfortable 3rd position overall.

The under 13 girls age group appeared to be our weakest section after the first race with the girls lying 11th on 707 points.  However, at aldersley there was a much better result, and the girls scored over 100 points more with 808 points on the day.  Lydia Silk, Abigail Preston and Rudee Robinson all raced the day before at Bridgnorth, but all three put in tremendous performances to help the girls improve on the first race scores.  Lydia made a massive improvement to finish 12th on the day, Louise Saul Braddock had another sold race in 26th and Becky Loundes appeared in her first race of the winter in 42nd .  All the girls improved on their placings from the first race, and all are looking to make further gains over the remainder of the season. The remaining scorers and finishers were:

Abigail Preston 56th, Ellie Willis 63rd, Olivia Davies 81st, Caitlin Price 82nd,  Rudee Robinson 83rd, Halee Robinson 131st, Vicky Gough, Lilly Pearson 139th, Abbie Lester 140th, Abbie Bayliss 146th, Madelline Richardson 160th, Victoria Gough 161st

Seventh on the day for the under 13s has seen them rise to 9th place overall.  Keep up the good work!!!

The penultimate race was the under 13 boys race where we were hoping Adam Saul Braddock would be able to achieve his first West mids league win.  Adam ran a very intelligent race, and waited to unleash a tremendous kick finish to win.  Again, Adam had also ran the day before, so his achievement can’t be underestimated. Behind Adam there was a fairly large gap to our remaining athletes but the rest of the team finished as follows:

Leon Haffie-Hobday 37th, Louie Lambeth 58th, Ethan Lewis 59th, Joel Humpage 67th, Jack Hughes 73rd, Harrison Jones 105th, Thomas James 107th

Harrison jones showed tremendous spirit, as one of his shoes fell off right at the start.  Rather than stopping he continued and finished the course, showing a great example for everyone.

The under 13 boys finished 6th on the day and are 6th overall.  Worth mentioned that the boys also mirrored the under 13 girls with a much improved score on the day, compared to the first race.

The final race was the under 15 girls.  Two of the girls had raced the day before (Amelia Samuels and Beth Tabor), so fatigue may have come into play.  For Amelia the race was a major success, she trailed her two rivals for most of the first lap, took the lead and continued a furious pace at the front to win comfortably – over 20 seconds ahead of the second placed girl.  Zoe Brickley had a fantastic race to finish 25th, and was delighted to beat a girl she had never beaten before.  Remaining scorers and finishers were:

Beth Tabor 36th, Angel Evans 49th, Ashleigh Miles 50th, Emilia Ferrara 51st, Camilla Oliver 80th, Grace Nicholls 81st, 

The girls finished 6th on the day, and are now 5th overall.  If the girls really lift their training for the final three races, a bronze medal is achievable.

Overall the club again finished second on the day, but Halesowen have had a much stronger day to lie third.  They are going to be the club we need to watch out for over the winter.  For the final races, if we can maintain the level of support from all athletes and parents, and have similar levels of turn out for events we should be ok.  It is crucial that the training intensity is maintained and you set yourselves individual goals to match or improve on this week’s positions.  Well done all !!!!

The third race is in three week’s time on Sunday 7 December at Warley Woods.  Race times are the same as usual, so please arrive early, as parking is likely to be very limited.

Quick reminder on vests and race numbers.   All athletes need to have their own vest to be able to compete in the league.  It is essential you purchase one in advance of the next race, if you don’t have one.  Also, please ensure that race numbers are returned after the end of each race.  If they don’t come back, you will be charged £2, which is the cost of the number per athlete.

 

Overall points and league standings below.

 

  1. Rugby And Northampton
13443
  1. Wolves & Bilston
12234
  1. Halesowen
11930
  1. Royal Sutton
10852
  1. Stratford
10640
  1. Bromsgrove
10225
  1. Coventry Godiva
10203
  1. Solihull
9837
  1. Birchfield
9121
  1. Cannock and staffs
8895
  1. Tamworth
8384
  1. Tipton
7298
  1. Leamington
7296
  1. Nuneaton
6075
  1. Dudley and Stourbridge
5098
  1. Kenilworth
4096
  1. BRAT
3964
  1. Sphinx
3258
  1. Sparkhill
2683

 

 

Lots of photos on Facebook and Flickr.

Hatton Country World, Warwick:

Paul Tabor writes…

Leamington AC hosted the first round of the West midlands young athletes cross country league on Sunday 17 November.   Our young athletes have put a lot of hard training in over the summer and were anxious for the cross country season to start, and see if they could improve on last seasons third place finish.

 

The first race was the under 17 girls. Amelia Silk was the only girl to have moved up from last year under 15 age group, and ran supremely well to be first finisher for the club in 5th place.  Jess Clark was second counter in 10th, with Molly Perkins being the third and final counter in 14th.  The three girls were ably supported by Leah Rutter who came home in 30th.   This age group is going to be a very close competition this year, if this first race is anything to go by.  We are lying 3rd overall, one point behind Rugby and three ahead of Solihull.  With Issy Cotham getting back to fitness, hopefully we will be able to challenge the top two places in this age group.

 

Under 11 boys were next up, with a much stronger team than last year. However, a dramatic injury before the race saw Callum McDermott spiked during the warm up and had to go to hospital for a couple of stiches in his leg.  This race saw 8 boys run, with the scorers being Levi Lawrence 24th, Jayden Meath 28th, Ellis Carter 36th, Brady Watkinson 45th and 8 year old Charlie Ward 53rd .  The remaining runners were:

Tom Hipwood 60th

Max Westwood 77th

Harrison Shale 98th

 

The boys team were 5th on the day, but would have been much higher in the standings if injuries and other sporting commitments hadn’t affected the attendance of four of our top under 11 runners. We look forward to those missing boys running the remaining fixtures, and surely a top three finish is achievable.

 

Next up were the under 17 men, with Jamie Ward first finisher for the club in 6th place, in his first under 17 cross country race. Ellis Geremslegi and Harry Cresswell completed the scoring positions in 14th and 19th respectively.  Tyrone Johnson, 26th, and Sam Griffiths, 36th, completed a strong team performance for the club. The boys are lying third in their age group, in another very closely fought age group.

 

Fourth event was the under 11 girls race, which we expected to be our strongest age group of athletes at the club. As the race panned out it was clear that we do have an extraordinary group of girls. The race was won by Elizabeth Marshall who ran a very well judged race, after seeing the initial pace set by her opponents. Behind her Brogan Pugh was 5th, ( a huge improvement on last year), Aliya Westwood 6th, Beth Dyall 7th, and Megan Davies 15th.  Next to finish was Grace Smith, who started at the back of the field, but flew round to finish in such a high position.  A better start will surely see Grace nearer the front of  the next event.  Other competitors were Kelley Beckham 32nd,  Isabella Ferrara 65th, Katie Goodridge 79th and Millie Dubberley 84th. The overall team score sees the girls comfortably ahead of all the other teams in the division, and with such a strong squad, they will be difficult to beat over the remaining fixtures.

 

5th event was the under 15 boys race. Ryan Hodgkiss led the team home in fourth position, with Matt Hogg and Harry Dyall (both new to the under 15 races) in 15th and 22nd respectively.  Fourth counter was Jordi Ray-Partoon who continues to return to fitness, and final counter Oliver Evans in  67th.  The final member of the team, was our recent new member Ryan Halpin, who finished a creditable 80th.  The boys are currently third in the league, which represents another very strong start to the season.

 

The under 13 girls race is an age group where many of our best runners from last year, have now moved in under 15s, with only Lydia Silk remaining. All the other girls are those who have moved up from under 11s.  The scorers were:

Louise Saul-Braddock 25th

Lydia Silk 29th

Abigail Preston 63rd

Ellie Willis (awaiting confirmation of finishing Position)

Caitlin Price 94th

 

In addition Lilly Pearson (106th) and Abbie Lester 113th also represented the club. In fact Lilly Pearson only came to the club on Thursday beforehand for her first training session, and immediately said she wanted to run on Sunday!!!  The under 13 girls lie 11th out of 20 teams, with the additional points for Ellie Willis still to come.

 

The under 13 boys race witnessed Adam Saul Braddock set a furious pace at the head of the field. Upon returning to the large field and the finish straight, Adam was second and put in an amazing kick finish, but was ultimately unable to seal the win  A slightly better race tactically, will surely see Adam win some of the remaining races.  Adam was backed up by Leon Haffie-Hobday (48th), Joel Humpage (76th) Louie Lambeth (88th) and Nile Nesbeth (93rd) . Behind Nile, Thomas James and Stephen Sandy ran spirited races to finish in 95th and 120th respectively.

 

The final race was the under 15 girls.  Again a number of the girls were moving up from the under 13 age category, and expected a tough race over the longer distance. Amelia Samuels once again proved how good an athlete she is by finishing second, and ahead of one of her fierce rivals, Abigail Saker..  Behind Amelia the remaining scorers were:

 

Beth Tabor 32nd

Jessica Banks 47th

Zoe Brickley 49th

Lucy Evans 51st

 

Jess did especially well considering it was only her second ever cross country race, due to swimming commitments.   Emilia Ferrara (62nd), Angel Evans (66th) and Camilla Oliver (90th) completed the team on the day.  The girls lie 6th, just 4 points behind Royal Sutton.

 

Overall the club finished second on the day, which represents our strongest ever start to a cross country season. There were a few athletes unavailable at Warwick and if we can encourage all of those to attend the next race at Aldersley, we can start to think about pulling away from the teams behind us. A thought must go out to Colin Thompson who was away for the weekend for his 60th birthday celebrations. It was the first race Colin has missed in a number of years, and I’m sure he would have been so proud to see the level of performances on the day.

 

Major thanks goes out to all the support received on the day. It is great that so many of you stay behind after your races to help support the other age groups competing.  It does make so much of a difference!!! Of course the athletes need a huge amount of credit for the effort and training they’ve put in to see this result happen.  We are only at the start of the season and will need to keep pushing and increasing the effort to maintain this excellent start.  Don’t take the foot off the gas, as the second race is Sunday 16th November on our home patch.

 

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