The seniors were back in cross country action at the weekend with a huge fixture at Newbold Comyn in Leamington where both divisions on the West Midlands Women’s Cross Country League and all three divisions of the men’s Birmingham & District Cross Country League were competing over a surprisingly dry course after plenty of rain at the tail end of last week.
The ladies were off first over a two-lap course of around 4 miles with a water crossing and a nasty little climb to negotiate on each circuit. Vicki Mackay led the ladies home in 34th place in 25.40, Megan White was 53rd in 26.22, Lindsay McCallum placed 64th, no thanks to her DPD delivery driver who delivered her newly ordered spikes about half an hour after she’d left the house for the venue, Sabrina Thomas made up the A team scorers in 136th place in 30.21, a dogged performance after illness. Emily Simmonds was 136th in a very solid 31.16 and Louise Webster was 167th on her cross-country league debut in 32.52. This placed the club 13th of 18 in Division 1, a great first effort with a small team with many more to return for the next fixture.
The men were off an hour later over the same course with an additional lap to make up just over 6 miles. Jonny Morris was first home in 19th place in 33.25, Louie Lambeth placed 39th in 34.35, Jack Bonser was 52nd 36.39, it was great to see Jonny Harris return to the club and come 89th in 36.39, Tom Isherwood placed 101st in 37.05 and Alex Blair made up the A team in 128th in 38.09. Ben Foster made up the A team in 141st in 38.48. Steve Newman was 152nd in 39.18, Paul Marson 170th in 40.05, Tom Pryor 186th in 41.18, Joe Marples made his league debut coming home in 41.56 to take 195th spot, Dan Turner has a shoe disaster as his spike plate came adrift at halfway leaving him to make the best of his way home in 206th place in 42.44, Rob Sannwald-Dunn made his club debut, but certainly not his league debut, finishing in 207th in 42.45, Dan Vaughan was 212th in 42.56, Dave Newport placed 217th in 43.07, Serge Guy pulled on the senior vest for the first time crossing the line in 233rd place in 44.13, Sundeep Sunar was 240th in 44.48, Dave Norman 264th in 47.39, Rob Edwards 265th in 47.53, Lee Partridge 291st in 56.43 and Russ Blair stopped the clock in 1.02.42 to take 295th place. It was a good result on their return to the top division but could have been better if Dan Maskew hadn’t jarred his knee and been forced to drop out. Good enough to place the club 12th but only 8 points off a top 10 slot so something to aim for next time. The B team placed 11th of 14 and the Masters A were 8th and B team 7th.
We were also missing Jon Hart but for happier reasons as he had been called up to run for England in the British & Irish Master Cross Country International in Leeds. Despite struggling with injury, the chance to represent his country (for the third time this year) got Jon to the start line, and in heady company he placed 36th overall and 9th in his age group in 30.38, doing enough to secure a gold medal for the England team.
There was more off-road action at the Beckbury Trail 10k twenty-four hours later where Derrick Milligan placed 8th in 42.06, Dave Newport was 15th in 44.11, Mark Perry was 118th in 58.12, Jo Richards placed 183rd in 1.03.47 and Julia Condon was 260th in 1.13.39.
Dave Norman
