Birmingham Cross Country League Division 2

11/2/06 Aldersley Stadium, Wolverhampton

The B&R squad after the final league fixture at Wolverhampton.

The team went in to the final fixture in 8th place in the league and with the luxury of a 250 point cushion over the relegation zone. Even so there was a bumper turn out by B&R with 13 runners starting at Wolverhampton. The runners set off uphill and within seconds Damien Lewis hit the deck as he clipped another stumbling runner. He was up smartly but was lucky to escape with just a mark on his neck where he was kicked by one of the following athletes.

The course comprised one short lap and three large laps to make up what we reckon was about 9 km. The grassy fields were generally mud-free but were on a slope so each of the large laps had three gentle hills about 100-200m long. The large lap also included a short steep bank from the field up to a footpath on a disused railway line. This only caused a problem on the first lap where there was a traffic jam in the middle of the field.

Paul Atkins (left) & Mark Graham await the call to the start.

James Adie returned to league action after his injury at Christmas and claimed a top ten place. Kevin Lanckham maintained his position in the 30’s another good performance as other team’s scores suggest that most clubs had a better scoring six this time. Damian Lewis recovered from his early fall to finish not far behind Kevin. Unfortunately for the club, we are likely to lose Damian next season as he will be going to University. Fourth scorer Ian Keyte improved by 9 places as he has done in successive races this season. Ross Matthews was another welcome return as fifth scorer and Stephen Elsmere finished sixth scorer, suggesting that he is going to fulfil his pre-university potential. Mark Graham was just edged out of the first six this time and Paul Atkins looked fitter and improved on his performance at Northampton. Gavin Moorhead would have been next in but pulled out with one lap left. There was a minute gap to Phil Anderson and then Alan Elsmere and Phil Richardson had a duel. Alan had the marginally better sprint finish to prevail by just one second. Barry Cooke had had a recurrence of his injury the day after the county race at Droitwich in early January but was determined to run a league race and ran steadily to get round.

Birmingham Rowheath and Rugby & Northampton had a close fight in the team event with the former increasing their slender pre-race lead to take the title. The expected battle for the third promotion place between Wolverhampton & Bilston and Birchfield, who started the day level on points, failed to materialise with W&B’s 4 th place ensuring they go up. In fact it had been rumoured that Birchfield were struggling to put out six runners. In the event they had eight runners but in spite of having three in the first twenty, they slumped to last place in the race and to fourth place in the league. Bromsgrove & Redditch finished eighth in the race to overtake last year’s division 3 champions Warwick University for seventh spot. Cannock & Stafford who had dropped in to the relegation zone because of a poor result at Northampton, marshalled their forces to turn things round with third place on the day. Gloucester A.C. who were promoted with us last year, slipped in to the final relegation place just seventeen points behind Sphinx and safety. They go down with Birmingham & Small Heath to Division 3 whilst Trentham are relegated to Division 4 because they failed to compete in some fixtures.

Meanwhile, Birmingham University beat their arch rivals Loughborough University to clinch the Division 1 title. Halesowen narrowly avoided joining us in Division 2 by overhauling Leamington in the final fixture at Cheltenham. Leamington, Kidderminster & Stourport and Staffs. Moorlands were relegated. At the time of writing we don’t know who won promotion from Division 2.

Left: Regular supporter Tony Woodward. Right: Ian makes the presentation to captain Barry Cooke.

Once again B&R runners were cheered on by their supporters and thanks go to the Graham family, Mrs. Lewis and Tony Woodward and his two grandsons. Special thanks are due to Tony who had to cope with collecting the team’s place tokens and record the positions – not so easy with a bumper turnout.

Barry Cooke has announced that he will stand down as men’s team captain after the Spring road relays. Ian Keyte presented him with a card and gift from the club’s men runners, not just the BLXC runners, in gratitude for his four years service in that post.

The BLXC squad celebrated the end of a successful season that saw the club consolidate its place in Division 2, with an evening drink in the Rising Sun and a curry at the Dakar restaurant in Redditch. The season was officially closed (as none of us are entered in the National) with a shot of Dagmar’s Uncle Ottmar’s schnapps.

Leading men

1 Gwyn Bellamy (Warwick U.) 29.59

2 Mark Dalkins (Birchfield) 30.20

3 Matthew Almond (R&NAC) 30.51

B&R finishers

9 James Adie 31.49

32 Kevin Lanckham 33.54

36 Damian Lewis 34.05

54 Ian Keyte 34.54

80 Ross Matthews 36.05

85 Stephen Elsmere 36.20

92 Mark Graham 36.31

101 Paul Atkins 37.08

118 Phil Anderson 38.14

135 Alan Elsmere 40.20

137 Phil Richardson 40.21

146 Barry Cooke 41.55

175 finishers

Team results (6 runners to count)

1 Birmingham Rowheath 134

2 Rugby & Northampton 144

3 Cannock & Stafford 173

4 Wolverhampton & Bilston 201

5 Northbrook 263

6 Kenilworth 286

7 Bromsgrove & Redditch 296

8 Solihull & Small Heath 301

9 Sphinx 325

10 Gloucester 358

11 Warwick University 360

12 Birchfield 376

13 Trentham Did Not Start

Provisional final league positions

1 Birmingham Rowheath 603

2 Rugby & Northampton 632

3 Wolverhampton & Bilston 783

4 Birchfield Harriers 958

5 Northbrook 975

6 Kenilworth 1042

7 Bromsgrove & Redditch 1168

8 Warwick University 1224

9 Cannock & Stafford 1299

10 Sphinx 1348

11 Gloucester 1365

12 Solihull & Small Heath 1562

13 Trentham –

P. Anderson  12/2/06