West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League

Sunday 7th December 2008

Sandwell Valley

Bromsgrove and Redditch Athletic Club’s young athletes finished 7th out of 20 clubs at the league third meeting at Sandwell Valley on Sunday.  This moves the club up to 10th to 9th place overall and pushes Tamworth AC down to 10th.  The overnight frost had ensured that the course was not as muddy as it has been in recent years; however 32 B&R athletes braved the cold weather.

First off were the under 11 girls team of Ellie Thomas, Lauren Clifford, Victoria Sparkes and Rebekah Millar who finished 22nd, 71st, 85th and 89th respectively out of 97.  The under 11 girls remain 13th overall in the under 11 girls team table.

Next to tackle the revised course were Charlotte Cole and Thomasina Ball representing B&R in the under 17 women’s category.  They both finished close together with Charlotte 25th and Thomasina 29th.  With this result they move up one place to 10th overall in the table.

The next race saw the best result of the day for B&R in the form of the under 11 boys team of Jordan Steele, Max Tibbins, Liam Bowden, Ben Welsh and Tom Neylon.  They were the top scoring under 11 boys team on the day.  Jordan repeated his 3rd place at Leamington last month, followed closely by Max 10th, Liam and Ben battling it out for places as they crossed the line with Liam coming out on top for 17th place and Ben 18th, Tom finished 30th to ensure the team came top.  This excellent result, there were 76 finishers in this race, moves them up from 12th overall to 9th and only four points behind Birchfield Harriers.  Hopefully we will continue to get a good turnout in this age category and they will continue to climb the table.

The under 15 girls team of Sally Hogan, Caelyn Hirschman and Kelly Caswell lost a few points this month due to being a couple of athletes short of a full team but still hung on to 9th place overall.  However it did allow Stratford-upon-Avon AC to close the gap to 12 points (they had been 187 points behind).  Sally finished 15th, Caelyn 41st and Kelly 59th out of 71.

Competing for B&R in the under 13 boys category was Jim Morley (23rd), George Thomas (24th), Lewis Anderson (44th) and Simeon Clarence (54th).  There were 76 finishers in this race.  Due to them being 1 short of a full team they slipped down one place in the table to 9th behind Tipton Harriers.

In the under 13 girls category there were only five B&R athletes, just enough for a team unlike recent meetings where there has been many more of them.  Georgie Hartigan finished 24th, Nicola Moss 25th, Orianna Ball 61st, Charlotte Tongue 105th and Lily Suffling 113th out of 120.  Due to them missing some of their quicker girls they also slipped down one place in the table to 12th, 8 points behind Sphinx AC.

In the last race of the day for the under 17 men, Sean Bowden had his best run of the season returning to last seasons form to finish 5th  Sean now stands 4th overall this season and in line for a medal again.  Completing the B&R under 17 men’s team was David Cooper in 40th place and Sam Moran 45th.  The under 17 men’s table is very tight with less than 100 points separating the top 8.  B&R slipped down from 6th place to 8th however Halesowen A&CC are only two points ahead.

The next West Midland Young Athletes Cross Country League meeting is on Sunday 18th January at Weddington, Nuneaton.

Don’t forget if you want to compete in any of the following: -

·        Worcestershire Cross Country Championships on Sat 10th Jan. at Malvern

·        Midland Cross County Championships on Sat 24th Jan. at Mansfield

·        National Cross County Championships on Sat 21st Feb. in London

then time is running out to let your team manager know.

(Calvin Scoltock)