There was more midweek action for athletes from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC starting off with some travelling the short distance down the A449 for the DK10k organised by Dudley Kingswinford Running Club. This has been a popular mid-week race for many years and former winners were in attendance to watch the current crop of racers charge around the country lanes. It’s always a difficult race to pace and the finishing distance along the Mile Flat a road that doesn’t live up to its name by being neither a mile nor flat can easily find people out.
Rich Amor-Wilkes was first back for the club in 18th place in 37.10, Shaun Bennett laid the ghost of his near collapse in 2019 with a 41st place finish in 40.00, Pete Hood finished in 76th in 43.19 taking 2nd place in his age group, but no disgrace being beaten by former two time Olympian Eddie Wedderburn, Sarah Thurley crossed the line in 43.46 to take 81st place, Rob Carrington was 308th in 54.32, Lisa Eardley was 399th in 58.57, Watney Moran was 493rd in 1.06.26 and Julia Condon was 513th in 1.08.00.
A small group travelled to Hereford for race 2 of their midweek 5k series. Louie Lambeth ran a lightning 15.49 to take 11th place and 1st MU20, Dan Turner was 19th in 16.12, Dave Smith, running under the Western Tempo banner, was 42nd in 17.32 and 2nd M50, Nick Beach ran a massive PB in 19.47 to take 99th place and Sabrina Thomas was 113th in 20.18 to claim 2nd F35.
And to bring the Wednesday night fun to a close the club had a small representation at the Shienton Steeplechase, described as “not a proper fell race but a cracking cross country nonetheless” over 5.3k. Dan Maskew finished runner up, missing out on the win by just 20 seconds coming home in 20.29, Dave Newport was 14th in 23.49 and Anthony Pinson finished in 28.56 to take 53rd place.
At the weekend David Joynson finished in 35th in 3.14.51 at take 3rd M55 and Gillian Mitchell finished in 5.18.05 in 254th place in the Halstead Marathon, and one step closer for both to the 200 figure they are chasing.
There was a bigger group travelling to Shropshire in search of yoghurts for the Market Drayton 10k with Rob Cartwright finishing in 29th in 36.07, Darren Owen-Jones was 46th in 37.47, Paul Clarke was 60th in a frustrating 39.01, Nick Beach ran 40.46 to take 106th place, Holly Baddeley ran a superb 42.00 for 134th overall and 2nd in her age group, Peter McCullagh was 210th in 44.32, Noah Carrington was 374th in 48.51, Rob Carrington was 531st in 52.37, Russ Blair continued his comeback from injury finishing in 59.41 to take 887th place, Lesley Stamps was 1038th in 1.02.54, Mary Solomon was 1040 in 1.02.56, Ian Cresswell was 1173rd in 1.06.26 and Sheila Porter finished in 1491st in 1.32.40.
The youth were also in Shropshire at Telford for the (take a deep breath) UK Youth Development League Lower Midlands North East Division D, finishing in 1st place. Over 75m Isaac Danbury was 3rd in 11.5 and William Hughes ran 12.7 in 3rd place. Belle Willoughby clocked 11.6 in 2nd, Kiki Guest clocking 12.2 and Hattie Thomas running 13.3. in the U15 100m there was a 3rd place finish for Jesse Osamuyi Oni with 12.7 and a 3rd place for Tino Mokombe with 15.00, Aryan Kumar Pal took 2nd with 15.6. Abigail Osamudiamen bagged a win with 12.8, Mia Hamer took a 2nd place with 14.6, also over 100m. Over 150m there was another victory for the club with Elissa Ruzweza running 22.7, Aisha Abdullah took 3rd in 23.0. Abigail also claimed the win over 200m with a time of 27.6. Jesse Osamuyi Oni took a runners up spot in 26.3 and Theo Nicholls ran 31.4 and there was another victory for Francesca Bowen who clocked 27.2. Over 300m James Crust ran 42.6, Charlie Thomas ran 51.8, Francesca Bowen bagged a win with 42.9 and Rowan Condon ran a time of 48.6.
Over 800m Oscar Davis stopped the clock in 2.21.3, Seb Edwards ran 2.54.9, Aryan Kumar Pal ran 2.48.3 and Charlie Thomas ran 2.59.4. There was a win in a time of 2.40.7 for Will Hughes, another win and a season best for Madison Farley with a time of 2.22.9 and Scarlett Willoughby ran 2.36.3. Macy Read won her heat in 2.42.1, Lucy Horton won her heat in 2.31.2, Belle Willoughby was 2nd in 2.59.5, Erin-Mia Nash was also 2nd in 2.50.7. Over 1200m Fred Jones led the field a merry dance and streaked away to victory in 3.31.1, Sam Ball also won his heat in 3.51.8. Grace Hendy was 2nd in 4.12.8 and Amira Moulder ran 4.57.0. Over 1500m Owen Ulfig clocked 4.23.0 for the win, Jack Stockton also claimed the win in 4.58.3, Megan White was 2nd in 4.50.5, with Daisey Frost running a season best 5.17.6. Ronni Read was 2nd in a season best of 5.18.6. In the 70m hurdles Kiki Guest clocked 15.00 for 2nd place and Aisha Abdullah 15.6 in 1st in her heat. In the 75m hurdles Charlotte Bradley clocked 13.5 for 2nd place. In the 4x100m relay the U15 Wolves team recorded a time of 55.00 and the U13s ran 60.4 with the ladies clocking 55.7 at U15 and 61.5 at U13. In the 4x300m relays the U15 men clocked 3.11.7 and the ladies 3.07.8.
There were wins for Theo Nicholls with 1.40, Harry Hamer with 1.40 and Alfie Mason with 1.05 and a 2nd place for Rowan Condon with 1.30, another 2nd for Megan Grove with 1.15 and a 3rd place finish for Sophie Grove with a jump of 1.20 in the high jump. There were plenty of good performances in the long jump with Tino Makombe leaping 4.12, James Crust jumping 3.51, Isaac Danbury 4.10, Abigail Osamudiamen taking the win with a jump of 5.15, Ashia Abdulla jumping 3.84 and Lucy Horton jumping 3.46.
In the throws there was a 3rd place for Aaron Singh in the shot with a distance of 5.26, a 4th place for Oliver O’Reggio with 3.94, a 2nd for Abigail Preston with 6.25, a 2nd for Rowan Condon with 4.77, a 4th place for Sophie Grove with 4.32 and a 2nd place for Elle Robinson with 3.04. In the discuss there was 2nd place for James Crust with 14.28, a 1st for Charlie Thomas with 11.65, 2nd for Charlotte Bradley with 13.89 and 1st for Abigail Powell with 10.14. In the hammer there was a win for Ethan Kendrick with a throw of 36.61. And in the javelin a 3rd for Aaron Singh with 9.61, a 2nd place for Abigail Powell with 14.72, 3rd for Mia Hamer with 5.84, 5th for Oliver O’Reggio with 9.65, 2nd for Alfie Mason with 6.21, 3rd for Hattie Thomas with 10.55 and 2nd for Moanya Singh with 6.90. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day where the club excelled themselves one again with the athletes, coaches, team managers and officials doing the club proud.
