There has been a slight delay this week due to waiting for some results to appear, we’re at a period where there’s been a lot of schools and youth races to bookend the cross country season which gives me a dilemma, whether to include them but run the risk of not spotting our athletes and club identification is difficult, or not to include them for fear of missing people out and causing some upset. I’ve gone for the former, I’m not sure whether that’s the right decision, so I’ll apologise in advance if I miss anyone, it’s certainly not intentional. Plus, the new Power of 10 website where results can be posted is not the easiest to deal with in its new format so I’ll do my best, here we go.
We’ll start at Sefton Park in Liverpool for the ESSA Cross Country Championships where Rocco Hawley placed 27th in 10.23 for Staffordshire, Harry Monkton representing West Mids was 53rd in 10.37, Nahum Worrall was 346th in 12.22 for West Mids in the Junior Boys race. In the Intermediate Girls race Grace Hendy placed 106th in 14.36 in a West Midlands vest. Megan White placed 64th in 17.27 and Zoleka Mzuku was 76th in 17.35 both representing the West Midlands in the Senior Girls Championships.
There was some action at Sportcity in the Manchester Indoor Open Meeting where Michael Deans clocked 7.06 for 1st place, Leo Watson placed 4th in 7.41, Theo Nicholls clocked 7.65 for 5th place, Leo also recorded a 2nd place in 7.30, and Theo was 1st in 7.63all in separate races over 60 metres.
And on the roads Dave Joynson clocked 3.26.11 for 6606th and Gill Mitchell was 24867th and 208th in her age group crossing the line in 5.50.05 in the Zurich sponsored Barcelona Marathon.
Dan Turner was putting some finishing touches to his London Marathon training by racing the Fission 20 in Gloucestershire coming home in an excellent 5thplace in 2.02.14.
A week later it was the turn of Luke Maskew to sharpen the blade for London with a race in Cheshire at the Wilmslow Half Marathon, a huge event forming an age group qualifying race for the British Masters hoping to represent England. Luke finished in a superb 1.12.18 in 33rd place, Dave Norman, with no marathon aspirations, was 610th in 1.33.29 and Nicholas Price placed 1211th in 1.47.08. Dan Turner bagged a comprehensive win in the Ironbridge Half Marathon, leading the field home in 1.16.34, almost 90 seconds clear of the runner up, David Butler was our only other representative stopping the clock in 2.44.18 and taking 434th spot. At Stafford, in their half marathon, Jonny Morris combined this with longer pre-marathon miles taking 5th place in 1.12.41, Ashley Atkinson was 47th in 1.21.39, Rob Sannwald-Dunn was 68th in 1.22.48, Rob Edwards was 332nd in 1.37.21, Francisco Villacampa Diaz was 392nd in 1.38.25, and according to my research Anna Moore also appears to have run but there is no sign of her name on the results, Strava says she ran 2.02, but the she appears to have run 2.03.47 and finished in 1390th according to a bit of digging to ensure I got things right.
And at the super-fast Pulford 10k in Cheshire Jon Hart was given an initial chip time of 30.52 and a gun time of 30.55, but these were frustratingly amended to 31.01 and 31.03, a small but significant difference but still good enough for 25th in a stacked field. Sam Thursfield ran a cracker but was also the wrong side of a significant number being given a chip time of 33.03 for 87th place but still an excellent result and enough for 11th in the U21 category.
To finish we’ll return to the country for the results of the National Primary Schools Cross Country Championships where Jude Martins placed 55th in 6.42 in the Year 4 Boys race, Holly Doody was 105thin 10.15 in the Year 5 Girls race, Bertie Dixon was 79th in 8.56, Joseph Blunt was 157th in 9.25 and Samuel Worrall was 158th in 9.25 in the Year 5 Boys race. Thanks to Kerry Blunt for the photos on the Facebook group which allowed me to cross refer race numbers with the results, that was so helpful.
The only thing that appears to remain outstanding now are the results of the local London Mini Marathon Trials at Stourport, these aren’t available at the moment but will appears next time.
Dave Norman
