It was a bumper cross-country weekend for Wolverhampton & Bilston athletes with the men and women both kicking off their league season on Saturday and the younger brigade pulling on their spikes for race two of the young athletes competition.
The ladies got things underway in Division One of the West Midlands Women’s League with the trek to Northampton, a long old slog for their fixture so special praise needs to be given to the troop that travelled and the team management that persuaded, cajoled and bullied them into going. First back for the club was Beth Rawlinson, her train journey from her university on the morning was rewarded with and impressive 9th place, and 2nd junior by only a handful of seconds, in 21.42, Lucie Tait-Harris was 53rd in 24.06, Millie Williams made her senior debut and came home in 25.55 for 87th place and Maria Calleia made up the A team with a time of 26.30 for 97th place. This was good enough to place the club 10th from 18. We also had half a B team out with Sabrina Thomas finishing in 101st in 26.48 and Emily Simmonds placing 108th in 27.35. This was a great turn out and a very solid performance considering the distance to travel, with a trip to Stoke next, followed by fixtures at Warley Woods and a final fixture at home the ladies should climb up the league.
The men faced a trip down the M5 to Cheltenham to race around Pittville Park for three laps which included a dunk in the ditch with a water feature on each lap. The men took to Division Two of the Birmingham Cross Country League like ducks to that water with James Neilson finishing 5th in 33.50 despite being sent the wrong way, Jon Hart placed 7th in 34.31, Tom Isherwood was 15th in 35.19, Luke Maskew 17th in 35.29, Dan Maskew 20th in 35.38 and Ben Foster was the final A team scorer in 42nd in 36.49. The B team was led home by Dylan Illidge in 50th place in 37.22, Derrick Milligan was 64th in 38.33, Paul Marson 65th in 38.37, Adam Soley 70th in 38.55, Ashley Atkinson 74th in 39.03, Steve Newman 78th in 39.15, Ben Pilsbury 82nd in 39.27, Tom Pryor 85th in 39.35, just pipping Alex Kelly a place behind in 39.39, Andy Horton was 128th in 41.33 on his cross country debut for the club, Dave Newport was 132nd in 41.53, Adam Guy was 147th in 42.36, Pete Hood placed 168th in 44.13, Andy Dyall was 182nd in 45.06, Mark Illidge 190thin 45.32, Paul Clarke was 201st in 46.34, Dave Norman 205th in 47.13, Rob Edwards 217th in 49.20, Lee Partridge 229th in 55.26 and Russ Blair 230th in 56.07.
This placed the club 1st in the division with a lead of 24 points from Cannock & Stafford, the B team were also top of their league from Cannock & Stafford, this time by nearly 100 points, the Masters A team were 2nd by only 5 points to Black Pear Joggers and the Master B team were in 1st place well ahead of Black Pear Joggers again.
The young guns were firing 24 hours later at Newbold Revel for race 2 of the West Midlands Young athletes Cross Country League. Where Alba Jones took first placed un the U11 girls race in 5.50, Chloe Cashmore-Jones was 14th in 6.40, Abigail Evans was 23rd in 6.55, Holly Doody placed 36th in 7.07 and Sophie Pilsbury was 85th in 8.22, placing the club in 5th in the age group. In the U11 boys race there was a 3rd place finish for George Nicholls in 6.01, Edison Bowden was 26th in 6.32, Isaac Heike placed 33rd in 6.38, Cameron Guest was 35th in 6.39, Evan Nash 61st in 6.58, Joseph Blunt 77th in 7.23, Samual Worrall 86th in 7.31, Joshua Hayes 84th in 7.31, Stanley Cooper 94th in 7.44 and George Hines 108th in 8.29, again giving the club a 5th place in the age group.
In the U13 girls race Lila Pearce placed 2nd in 9.58, Biba Guest 24th in 11.14, Heidi Hayes 28th in 11.19, Phoebe Bridgen 30th in 11.28, Evelyn Haines 49th in 11.56, Amiyah Pal 76th in 12.43 and Charlotte Rogers 105th in 14.30. Good enough for 4th. And in the U13 boys Seb Palmer finished runner up in 9.22, chased hard by Jonathan Yang who was a place and a second behind, Theo Ulfig was in 7th only a few seconds adrift in 9.36, Harry Monkton was 12th in 10.00 and Nahum Worrall finished in 27th in 10.20. Not surprisingly the club finished in 1st place. In the U15 girls race there was a 9th place finish for Grace Hendy in 11.10, Kiki Guest was 16th 11.38, Maya Rosa Jelic Ramesh was 37th in 12.52, Kaleah Moulder 42nd 13.02, Erin-Mia Nash was 43rd in 13.03, Amira Moulder was 46th n 13.09, Alice Cattell was 53rd in 13.30 and Clara Butler-Montero clocked 13.55 to place 61st. This placed the club in 4th. There was a win for Fred Jones in the U15 boys race in 9.30, Will Hughes was 7th in 9.56, Lucas Fullwood was 36th in 11.18 and Aaron Guest placed 53rd in 12.30, placing the club in 7th place.
In the U17 women’s race there was a 3rd place finish for Zoleka Mzuku in 15.12, Megan White was 9th 15.38, Ronni Read was 24th in 16.58 and Scarlett Willoughby was 27th in 17.09 to place the club 2nd. And in the U17 mens race Owen Ulfig put his injury woes behind him with victory in 15.42, Jack Stockton placed 4th in 16.17, Sam Thursfield was 13th 16.57, Jayden Burdish was 39th in 18.44, Kane Carrington was 61st in 20.50, Aryan Pal was 64th in 21.19 and Serge Guy was 69th in 21.53. With the club in 1st place.Overall, the club sits in second after the second fixture of a five event series, around 250 points behind Rugby & Northampton AC, but there is still a great deal of grass to run on so it could all change.
Dave Norman
