Midlands Athletics Association

Young Athletes Road Relays

Sunday 21st September 2008

Sutton Park, Birmingham

Report from Calvin Scoltock:

The sun shone over Sutton Park on Sunday 21st September for the MCAA Young Athletes Road Relays.  First off were the under 13 girls of Georgie Hartigan and Charlotte Tongue.  Georgie passed over to Orianna Ball and then Kira Swannell with the team finishing in 15th place out of 30 teams.  Unfortunately due to illnesses Charlotte had no one to pass on to but had a good run improving by more than 30 seconds on last years time.

Next off were the under 13 boys team of Jim Morley, Lewis Anderson and Simeon Clarence.  All 3 ran exceptionally, completing the 3.861 km course in roughly 15:30 each.  They finished 8th overall out of 22 teams.

In the under 15 girls race B&R fielded a full team of Sally Hogan, Hayley Oliver and Kelly Caswell, who finished in 27th place out of 39 teams.  Megan Walsh also ran the 1st stage for the under 15 girls but had no one to run stages 2 and 3 for the B team.

In the under 15 boys race the club entered an A team of Chris Warren, Ashley Grazier and Jamie Scoltock, plus a “Bromsgrove” team of Matthew Mannefa, Jason Periera & Jack Morley and a “Redditch” team of Harrison Howie, Matthew Daniels & Louie Longhi.  The race pace on the first stage was very fast with Chris Warren completing the course in 13:29, the firstt time he has been under 14 minutes on this challenging course, we expected him to be closer to the front but the competition was strong.  However, Chris still handed over to Ashley in a respectable 8th place.  Ashley and Jamie ran well, Jamie improving on his time over this course in the previous two years by almost 2 minutes.  The A team finish the day in 20th place out of 35 teams.  As the “Bromsgrove” and “Redditch” teams came through the woods to complete the 1st stage Matthew Maneffa and Harrison Howie were very close, Harrison just pulling away on the last hill and also caught Birchfield’s B team runner.  Next off for the “Bromsgrove” team was new club member Jason Pereira being thrown in at the deep end with probably the hardest race the Young Athletes compete in.  For the “Redditch” team Matthew Daniels ran the 2nd stage in exactly the same time as Ashley ran for the A team and 1 second quicker than Harrison had run, this pulled the “Redditch” team ahead of the “Bromsgrove” team.  On the last stage Louie Longui ran for the “Redditch” team and Jack Morley for the “Bromsgove” team.  Jack pulled back the gap to the “Redditch” team slightly demonstrating how well he has improved over the longer distances in recent months.  The “Redditch” team finished in 26th place with the “Bromsgrove” team coming in 28th.

The club even managed to get a full team of under 17 women out this year.  Stage one saw Thomasina Ball finish in 16th place, Charlotte Cole pulled back a few places to get the team up to 11th place with Noami Barrett bringing the team home in 14th place.

Last off were the under 17 men’s team of Adam Peacock, Sean Bowden and recent new member David Cooper.  All ran well to bring the team home in 12th place out of 32 teams, with David sprinting up the final hill to the line to hold off Tipton’s A team.

An excellent performance by everyone with B&R’s youth teams looking healthy for the XC season.

U13 Girls A: 15th (30 starters, 29 complete teams)

U13 Girls B: Incomplete

Click for full results of the U13 Girls relay

U13 Boys: 8th (22 starters, 19 complete teams)

Click for full results of the U13 Boys relay

U15 Girls A: 27th (39 starters, 33 complete teams)

U15 Girls B: incomplete

Click for full results of the U15 Girls relay

U15 Boys A:  20th (35 starters, 28 complete teams)

U15 Boys B:  28th

U15 Boys C: 26th

Click for full results of the U15 Boys relay

U17 Women:  14th (17 starters, 14 complete teams)

Click for full results of the U17 Women’s relay

U17 Men: 12th (31 starters, 20 complete teams)

Click for full results of the U17 Men’s relay