West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country
 Meeting 3 of 5 at Sandwell Valley Park

Saturday 2nd December 2007

Above: Jim Morley reaches the top of the hill in the U11 boy's race at Sandwell Valley.

Bromsgrove and Redditch Young Athletes maintained their 8th place out of 20 clubs in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League at Sandwell Valley in extremely muddy and wet conditions.

First race of the day was the under 11 girls with Molly Savage finishing in 14th place, followed by Latisha Thompson in 17th and Ellie Thomas 62nd.  The under 11 girls retain their 13th place in the table.  They have closed the gap between themselves and Sphinx AC in 12th place from more than 200 points to only 51 points.  Another good result like this should see them move up to 12th place.

Next off were the under 17 women, again the sole runner for the club was Charlotte Cole (left) with another excellent run to claim 14th place.  With Leamington C & AC fielding 3 under 17 women they move up the table pushing B&R’s under 17 women (or should I say Woman) down to 13th place.

Above: Lewis Anderson (left) and George Stanhope were just one place apart in the U11 boy's race.

Left: Will Tuffin takes the muddy hill in his stride.

The first boy’s race of the day was the under 11 boy's.  Jacob Hood went into this race second highest scoring under 11 boy so far this season, having only been narrowly outrun by Robert Stroud of Tamworth.  Unfortunately Jacob was ill and had to pull out of the race half way round.  However, Jim Morley had another good run finishing in 9th place; with his other fine runs this year he is currently 6th highest scorer.  Other under 11 boys were Lewis Anderson in 27th, George Stanhope 28th and Will Tuffin 74th.  Missing out on Jacob’s points, the Under 11 boys drop down to 8th place overall.

Only two of the B&R under 15 girls ran.  Both had fantastic runs to finish in their highest positions so far this year, Sally Hogan 10th and Tomasina Ball 25th.  With these two great runs the under 15 girls team only drop one place in the table to 10th place - 27 points behind Tipton, despite being short of 3 runners for a complete team.

Lawson Phipps-Jones (left) was first B&R boy home in the under 13 boy’s race in 18th place, followed by the ever improving George Thomas 25th.  Simeon Clarence finished well in his first cross country for the club, taking 34th place.  Other under 13 boys were Jamie Scoltock 39th (highest place for him this year), Louie Longhi 51st (this being the first event Louie has competed in for the club) and Tim Hoppe 88th determined not to let the tough conditions beat him.

Left: George Thomas. Right: Simeon Clarence

Left: Louie Longhi. Right Tim Hoppe.

Sorry didn’t get a photo of Jamie as I was too slow to react as he ran past me too quickly – Phil)

The bad weather must have put off some of the under 13 girls because their record breaking numbers were down to ONLY 10!  Georgie Savage was once again first home for the under 13 girls in 11th place, this drops her down to 7th highest scorer this year.  Georgie Hartigan finished 39th, Orianna Ball 52nd, Caelyn Hirschman 66th, Zoe Scoltock 74th, Natalie Gregory 88th, Kelly Caswell 90th, Charlotte Tongue 96th, Sadie Beard 107th and Tamaryn Phipps-Jones 115th (with Len encouraging her all the way around).  The under 13 girls maintain their 10th place in the table and have closed the gap to Cannock & Stafford AC who are only 4 points ahead in 9th place and Halesowen A & CC who are only 30 points ahead in 8th place.  Another good result should see them move further up the table.

By now the course was very muddy with the under 15 boys ready to start.  The four B&R runners in this race were Chris Warren 24th, Ashley Grazier 41st, Harrison Howie 53rd and Jack Morley 59th.  The B&R under 15 boys team are now 7th in the table.

The last race of the day was the under 17 men’s with the course now so muddy that the start line had disappeared.  The consistent and strong running team of Sean Bowden (5th), Adam Peacock (9th) and Simon Lanckham (17th) were the 3rd highest scoring under 17 men’s team on the day.  As with the previous meeting they were beaten by Birchfield.  The other team to beat them this time was Tipton who only scored 3 more points, they had beaten Tipton by 25 points at the previous meeting.  This allows them to move up the table to 6th place from 9th.  If they continue this form they should move up to 4th place following the next meeting, ready to challenge Tamworth AC for 3rd place.  Sean still hangs on to his second highest scoring under 17 men’s position with Adam Cotton of Birchfield now on equal points with him.

Next West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League Fixture is in the New Year at Weddington on Sunday 13th January 2008.