Gloucester Cross Country League

Newbold Comyn, Leamington Spa

Saturday 17th November 2007

Above: They take no prisoners in the Senior Women's race!

More of the younger athletes than normal attended the second fixture of the Gloucester Cross Country League at Newbold Comyn.

Above: Jacob Hood on his way to winning the U11 Boy's race.

The first race of the day was the Under 11 Boys which was won by B&R lad Jacob Hood with a clear 11 seconds lead despite taking a wrong turn.  Jacob led the race from the start.

Above: Lawson (left) and Jamie in the Under 13 Boy’s race.

Next off were the Under 13 Boys.  Lawson Phipps-Jones finished 7th and Jamie Scoltock 17th.

Above: Adam (left) and Simon in the Under 17 men’s race.

The club also had two runners in the Under 17 men’s race that both finished in the top ten, Adam Peacock 7th and regular Simon Lanckham 8th.

Above: Sally Hogan winner of the Under 15 Girl’s race.

The Under 15 Girls and Under 17 Girls ran together.  The club only had one runner in these two races, Sally Hogan who finished 1 st in the Under 15 Girls category.  Only two of the Under 17 Girls finished ahead of her!

Above: Helen Russell with runners stretched out behind her on the climb on the beacon hill.

Above: Jane Anderson (left) and Georgie Fleming descend the hill side-by-side.

Left: Yvonne Priestman may have hung up her track spikes for the vets league but has found a new challenge on the country.

In the senior women’s race the club fielded eight runners.  First of the B&R ladies to finish was Helen Russell in 13th place, followed by Ann Stuart in 25 th, Jane Anderson 31st, Georgie Fleming 34th, Kirsten Walton 38th, Tracey Jones 43rd and Yvonne Priestman 59th.  Unfortunately Judy Appleby had to pull out due to an injury while crossing the ditch on the first lap.  With three finishers counting towards a team the ladies had two complete teams, the A team of Helen, Ann and Jane finished as 6th team out of 19 full teams, the B team of Georgie, Kirsten and Tracey finished 13th and ahead of four A teams.  Ann, Jane and Tracey qualified as a Veteran Ladies Team coming 5th out of nine Veteran ladies teams.

Above: James Hood first B&R finisher in senior men’s race.

Fourteen of the B&R men took part in the Senior Men’s race.  The A team had a good result finishing 6th even though they were missing some of their faster runners, Dave Kesterton was away in Northern Ireland running for England in the British Masters Cross Country Championships, Richard Malin nursing an injury and John Manley having to pull out minutes before the start due to injury.  First B&R runner across the line James Hood, not quite matching his younger brothers 1 st place early during the day, in 15th, followed by Kevin Lanckham in 22nd, Ian Keyte 29th, Jamie Dancyger 31st (Jamie had a flying start hanging on to the leaders, he was in 3rd place after about 500 metres; trying to step in to Dave Kesterton’s shoes), Gavin Moorhead 60th and Calvin Scoltock completing the A team in 69th with both shoes on! 

Above: Dickie Doran (left) who recently re-joined the club and Dave Stokes scoring for the B team.

Above: Welcome to new faces in the team, Andy Fastroy (left) and Eamon Thompson.

Left: Another new recruit to the Gloucester League squad, Ken Wood (he cleared the ditch spectacularly but you'll have to wait for that photo!)

Jimmy Atkins and Phil Richardson fought against each other for the whole race for first of the B team.  Jimmy finally won this battle, reversing their finishing position at Senneleys the previous month.  Jimmy finished 79th with Phil two seconds behind in 80th.  The rest of the B team was made up of Dickie Doran 87th, David Stokes 111th, Andy Fastroy 130th and Eamon Thompson 142nd. Other B&R runners were Steve James 144th and Ken Wood 157th.  The B team finished 13th on the day. The B&R Veteran team made up of Kevin Lanckham, Ian Keyte, Jimmy Atkins and Phil Richardson finished 5th Veteran team out of 19 complete veteran teams.

With Len busy preparing for the Awards Night no flapjacks were on offer after the races.  This was not a problem, thanks to Judy who had slaved over a hot oven the previous evening to bake home made cookies.  We all expect Len to get the recipe from Judy before the next Birmingham League Cross Country fixture as these cookies were fantastic.

Calvin Scoltock

Click here for full results

SEE BELOW FOR LEAGUE TABLES AFTER TWO FIXTURES

Next cross country league race for the senior men will be the Birmingham League fixture at Coundon in Coventry on Sat. 1st December. Let’s have another great turnout to make sure we count in both A and B team competitions. Len should be back so it’ll be flapjack time!

Next Gloucester League fixture will be at Pittville Park in Cheltenham on Sat. 15th December.

Thanks to Calvin Scoltock, Tony Woodward and Pete Hawcroft for pictures. I’ll try and get more on the site – including the various methods of clearing or not clearing the water-filled ditch. Thanks to Tony Woodward for doing the number crunching to get the league positions below. Phil

Cumulative Gloucester League points after 2 fixtures thanks to Tony “Excel” Woodward:

	Senior Women	Blk. Bridge	Leamington	Total
1	Leamington	62	27	89
2	Severn AC	22	77	99
3	Kiddtr & Stourport	68	53	121
4	Team Bath	57	79	136
5	Clevedon	71	68	139
6	Stroud & District	38	109	147
7	Bitton	90	58	148
8	B & R 'A'	96	69	165
9	Forest of Dean	164	107	271
10	Spa Striders	171	103	274
11	B & R 'B'	163	115	278
12	Thornbury	155	132	287
13	Angels	162	126	288
14	Bourton	163	125	288

	Veteran Women	Blk. Bridge	Leamington	Total
1	Team Bath	81	79	160
2	B & R	131	94	225
3	Spa Striders	171	71	242
4	Leamington	168	85	253
5	Forest of Dean	164	107	271
6	Angels	162	126	288
7	Bourton	163	125	288

	Senior Men	Blk. Bridge	Leamington	Total
1	Clevedon	103	60	163
2	Cheltenham	195	76	271
3	Severn	160	139	299
4	Gloucester	237	252	489
5	Leamington	385	188	573
6	B & R	360	226	586
7	Forest of Dean	558	450	1008
8	Tewkesbury	481	552	1033
9	Spa Striders	637	552	1189
10	Thornbury	527	677	1204

	Veteran Men	Blk. Bridge	Leamington	Total
1	Clevedon	121	114	235
2	Cheltenham	213	141	354
3	Gloucester 'A'	213	184	397
4	B & R	228	210	438
5	Forest of Dean	307	246	553
6	Kenilworth	438	181	619
7	Leamington	404	300	704
8	Dursley	393	332	725
9	Thornbury	419	355	774
10	Bourton	356	472	828
11	Gloucester 'B'	462	513	975