The Christmas and New Year period can often be a time to concentrate on non athletic pursuits but amongst the Quality Street and mince pies were some excellent performances from athletes from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, which surely made the Quality Street and mince pies taste all the sweeter.
First out after Christmas were those toeing the line for the Wheaton Aston 10k on the 27th. First back for the club, and recording an impressive PB, was Dylan Illidge crossing the line in 6th place in 34.58, Derrick Milligan was a place behind in 35.19, bagging the 1st M40 prize and claiming a PB himself. Tony Cheema was 36th in a rapid 38.48, Simon Calrow claimed the 1st M65 prize in 67th place clocking 42.18, Darren Owen Jones was 87th in 43.33 and Mark Perry was 208th in 52.39.
There was some indoor action in Sheffield to bring 2024 to a close where Psalm Roberts-Nash, making his 60m indoor debut, placed 7th in his heat in an impressive 7.37 seconds and placed 3rd in his heat over 200m in a time of 22.98 seconds. The was an indoor debut for Aupromeyo Mukherjee who achieved the entry standard for his National Aged Group Championships placing 2nd in his heat with an inspiring 7.66 seconds. Over 600m Connor Blincoe placed 3rd with a time of 1min 33 seconds in his heat and Samantha Agomoh, again experiencing her first ever indoor competition, came first in her heat of the 200m in a time of 27.96 seconds. Greg Asbury, gearing up for his Masters Pentathlon, produced a leap on 4.40 in the long jump to take 9th place in his pool and then ran a 41.72 sec over 300m placing 3rd in his heat.
There was some action on New Years Day where a small number of club athletes took part in Dudley Kingswinford Running Club’s New Years Day Handicap Race where runners go off in reverse order, the slower first and getting quicker and quicker with the fastest runners going of last, first prize going to the runner to finish nearest their handicap mark rather than the fastest to cover the distance. There was a win for Andy Horton who couldn’t have timed it better, finishing exactly on his handicap mark and covering the 4 mile distance in 26.18, his estimated finish time to the second. Paul Marson was 15th with 23.25, just 23 seconds off his estimated finish time, Jay Patel was 28th in 27.19, missing his time by 52 seconds and Tony Cheema was 28th in 25.34, a difference of 1.06.
We were into more cross-country action at the weekend with the first Saturday of the year usually put aside for county championship races. Whilst the Staffordshire Championships, due to be held in Stoke, were cancelled on Friday afternoon because of the potential threat of bad weather the Shropshire Championships in Oswestry went ahead. Beth Rawlinson placed 4th in the ladies race and 1st U20 in a time of 24.42.
Dave Norman