There was a home game for athletes from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC on Saturday as a large contingent from the club took part in the Midlands Cross Country Relays around the well-trodden fields at Aldersley. And they came away with a bag full of medals across the younger age groups, at least that meant they didn’t have to carry their massive medal haul too far to get them home.
There was a bronze medal for the U13 girls with the team of Kiki Guest in 12.40, Lucy Horton in 12.41 and Grace Hendy in 12.57 finishing in 3rd place in a total time of 38.18. The B team finished in 6th in 43.39 with Maisie Roberts running 14.33, Erin-Mia Nash 14.06 and Clare Butler-Montero running 15.00, and the C team were 7thin 43.46 with Alice Cattell 14.51, Belle Willoughby 14.43 and Amira Moulder 14.12. In the U13 boys event the club came away with a silver medal with Isaac Danbury clocking 11.54, Sam Ball 10.26 and Will Hughes 10.59 for an overall time of 33.19. Ben Sanders was the only competitor in an incomplete B team finishing in 13.24.
There was a gold medal for the U15 boys with the team coming home in 30.52 with Sam Thursfield finishing in 10.24, Jack Stockton 10.25 and Oscar Davis 10.03. The B Team of Jayden Burdish in 11.11, Aryan Kumar Pal 12.43 and Charlie Thomas 13.02 were 10th in 36.56. The U15 girls picked up a silver with Scarlett Willoughby running 12.16, Megan White 11.40 and Ronni Read 11.59 finishing 2nd in 35.55. The B team on Eleanor Simpson 12.52, Zena Asbury 12.39 and Ruby Buggins 13.08 were 5th in 38.39 and the C team of Madison Farley 13.51, Tabitha Rollins 14.33 and Ariana Sandhu-Whitton 16.54 were 8th in 45.18.
The U17 men picked up a gold medal with Tom Dornan in 10.29, James Neilson 9.52 and Zakari Sandhu-Wilson 10.30 taking 1st place in 30.51.
There was a 9th place finish for the Senior Men with Louie Lambeth finishing in 20.40, Tom Pryor 22.01, Jack Bonser 19.25 and Dylan Illidge 21.24 with a total time of 83.20. The B team of Anthony Parkes in 21.30, Ben Foster 21.15, Ben Pilsbury 22.32 and Ashley Atkinson 22.17 were 16th in 87.24. The Masters A team were 14thin 96.11 with Greg Asbury running 23.05, Gareth Briggs 22.38, Dave Norman 25.01 and Pete Hood 25.27 and the B team of Lee Partridge 26.56, Andy Dyall 25.31, Rob Edwards 26.56 and Darren Edwards 27.34 were placed in 20th with Darren still to go off in the mass start.
In the womens event the ladies team just missed out on a medal coming in 4th place in 72.33, to Rugby & Northampton ACs bronze medal winning time of 71.48. Lucy Calrow ran 23.23, Ceri Card 27.02 and Beth Rawlinson 22.08. And the ladies Masters Team were 13th in 101.46 with Danni Braine clocking 28.18, Julia Condon 37.42 and Imogen Harley 35.46.
Special mention must also go to Adam Guy as race director and the massive team of marshals, officials, parents and supporters who worked wonders to make the event a success.
Twenty four hours later a small group travelled north to Leeds for the Abbey Dash 10k, reputedly one of the fastest road races in the country and were rewarded with a handful of PBs. The weather conditions were certainly not conducive to fast times, more the sort of conditions that would make Noah reach for his hammer as runners had to negotiate a torrential downpour and flooded roads to get to the finish. Dan Turner was 113th in 32.58, Beth Tabor was 347th in 36.59, Nick Beach ran 39.47 for 520thplace, Darren Owen-Jones was 554th in 40.35, his finish time affected by a first mile toilet stop robbing him of a guaranteed sub 40 finish, Holly Baddeley was 585th in 41.12 and Sabrina Thomas was a place behind in 586thin the same time.
