Weekly update – 16th January 2025

There was plenty of cross-country action at the weekend for athletes from Wolverhampton & Bilston to get stuck in to. The freezing conditions leading up to the events gave cause for concern, but everything went ahead as planned.

We’ll kick things off with race 3 of the Midland Women’s CXC League Division 1 which took place at Warley Woods. With illness and university commitments putting a small dent in the squad we were still able to field a more than competent team with Lucie Tait-Harris bringing the club home in 32nd place in 29.45, 6th in the masters race, Sabrina Thomas was 54th in 32.04, Emily Simmonds produced a courageous performance to place 75th in 33.36 and Maria Calleia completed the A team in 80th place in 33.55. Danni Braine put in a brave performance to place 118th in 39.06. With one race left the ladies are 9th out of 18 clubs, and 3rd behind City of Stoke and Bromsgrove & Redditch AC in the masters competition.

The men travelled south to Worcester to a bitter Top Barn where fog and frozen ground made for a testing afternoon. Jonny Morris made his long awaited return to the club coming 3rd in 31.45, Dan Turner out performed his own expectations coming home in 14th place in 33.19, Dan Maskew recovered from a swollen ankle to place 20th in 33.34, Luke Maskew was 22nd in 33.40, Adam Soley was 23rd in 33.42 and James Neilson, full of cold and having mistakenly worn his road shoes on what he thought was frozen ground, placed 37th in 34.24 to complete the A team. Ben Foster placed 43rd in 34.38, Alex Blair was 50th in 35.02 on his senior debut, Alex Kelly was 56th in 35.08, Ashley Atkinson was 58th in 35.19, Gary Worrall 65th in 35.39, Steve Newman 78th in 36.18, Dylan Illidge struggled with the cold conditions but completed when it would have been much easier not to, coming home in 82nd place in 36.22, Dan Vaughan was 116th in 38.28, Andy Horton placed 117th in 38.38, Joe St Quinton was 127th in 39.12, Tony Cheema 128th in 39.13, Adam Guy 148th in 40.08, Andy Dyall 166th in 41.27, Mark Illidge 184th in 43.15, Rob Edwards 193rd in 44.29, Paul Clarke 207th in 48.59, Lee Partridge 213th in 52.09 and Russ Blair 215th in 53.53. Although we placed 2nd on the day by a mere 4 points, behind the surprise package of CLC Striders, this was enough to put the club back on top of the table with one fixture, a home game, remaining. W&B lead Cannock & Stafford AC by almost 150 points and are more than 200 point clear of Black Pear Joggers who are in 3rd. The Seniors B team and also 1st by more than 600 points. The Masters A team are in 2nd place, just 31 points behind Black Pear Joggers, and the Masters B team are over 100 points clear at the top of the table.

Twenty-four hours later it was the turn of the young guns to fire on their home turf at Aldersley. In the U17 womens race there was an 8th place finish for Zoleka Mzuku in 16.12, Megan White was 16th in 16.47, Scarlett Willoughby was 18th in 17.11 and Ronni Read was 25th in 18.05, good enough to place the club 3rd in the age group. There was a 4th place finish for George Nicholls in the U11 boys race in 5.33, Cameron Guest was 23rd in 5.51, Edison Bowden placed 26th in 5.55, Evan Nash 39th in 6.04, George Shaw 45th in 6.10, Isaac Heinke 54th in 6.15, Joseph Blunt 55th in 6.15, Samuel Worrall 64th in 6.26, Joshua Hayes 88th in 6.55, with the club placing 4th in the age group.

Jack Stockton placed 3rd in the U17 mens race in 15.03, Jayden Burdish was 37th in 17.59, Samuel Southall was 40th in 17.59, Joshua Hill 49th in 19.30, Serge Guy 51st in 19.44 and Aryan Pal was 53rd in 19.51, the club placing 6th. There was a win for Alba Jones in the U11 girls race crossing the line in 5.32, Abigail Evans was 5th in 5.50, Chloe Cashmore-Jones was 15th in 6.02, Holly Doody 31st in 6.22, Sophie Pilsbury 86th in 7.35, the club placing 4th in the age group. There was another win for the club, and the family, with Fred Jones taking 1st place in the U15 boys race in 9.53, Will Hughes was 10th in 10.44, Lucas Fullwood placed 35th in 11.58, Aaron Guest was 48th in 12.51, the club coming 6th. There was a third win on the day for the club with Lila Pearce taking victory in the U13 girls race in 9.06, Biba Guest was 14th in 10.15, Evelyn Haines 26th in 10.26, Phoebe Bridgen 30th in 10.30, Heidi Hayes 31st in 10.33, Adelaide Southall 34th in 10.34, Amiyah Pal 71st in 11.33, and Charlotte Rogers 90th in 14.02, the club coming 2nd in the age group.

Rocco Hawley placed 2nd in the U13 boys race in 8.19 in the U23 boys race, Jonathan Yang was 4th in 8.42, Theo Ulfig placed 7th in 8.53, Seb Palmer was 8th in 8.55, Nahum Worrall 17th in 9.13, Harry Monkton 26th in 9.31, and with 3 back in the top 10 not surprisingly the club were 1st in the age group. Grace Hendy was 3rd in 11.29 in the U15 girls race, Kiki Guest was 16th in 12.42, Alice Cattell was 31st in 13.28, Erin-Mia Nash was 32nd 13.37, Kaleah Moulder was 48th in 14.10, Livia Faul-Geal 52nd in 14.38, Clara Butler-Montero was 61st in 15.22, enough to place the club 3rd.

Overall, the club placed 1st on the day and are 2nd overall behind Rugby & Northampton AC after 4 matches, and with one remaining there is still an opportunity to overhaul the leaders.

While some club members were out braving the cold there was some red-hot indoor action in Manchester at Sport City where Connor Blincoe placed 3rd in his heat over 600 in 1.31.74, Greg Asbury followed him home in 4th in the same heat in 1.34.70. Greg also took part in the long jump placing 8th with a leap on 4.35 in pool B.

Dave Norman

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