West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League

Newbold Comyn, Leamington

Sunday 9th November 2008

Above: Jack keeps ahead of a Stratford runner on the steep climb in the U15 boys race (not sure about those shoes though).

Click for photo gallery

Under 11 Girls

100 finishers. 11th out of 17 teams at race 2. 13th team after 2 races.

Under 13 Girls

Above: Georgie was our first U13 girl to finish at Leamington.

Above: Orianna  (315) and Kira (325) on the large lap.

150 finishers. 9th out of 19 teams in race 2. 11th team after 2 races.

Under 15 Girls

Above: The U15 girls team jockeying for position at the start.

Above: Georgie Savage (311) and Sally Hogan (309) tackle the water.

90 finishers. 8th team out of 16 at race 2. 9th team out of 19 after 2 races.

Under 17 Women

40 finishers. 11th out of 18 clubs after 2 races.

Report on Boys & Mens teams from team manager Calvin

Under 11 Boys

Above: Jordan (226), Ben (224) and Max Tibbins (225) amazingly mud-free after finishing.

In their first cross country for the club Jordan Steele, Ben Welsh and Max Tibbins all had fantastic runs to finish 3rd, 4th and 11th respectively, shame they missed the first fixture as they would have been in the running for the individual awards.  Liam Bowden finished 44th out of 70 finishers having been spiked and falling at the start. With an improvement on only two under 11 boys running in the first fixture they move up to 12th place from 15th in the team results. Unusually there was even a false start in this race and the runners were well across the first field before having to return to the start line.

Under 13 Boys

Above: Simeon clears the water on the second lap of the U13 boys race. 

Jim Morley was the first of the club's under 13 boys back in 15th place, followed by Lewis Anderson equalling his 39th position in the first fixture even though there were more finishers today.  Simeon Clarence was 43rd in spite of a sore knee and Tim Hoppe 93rd out of 96.  Due to them missing a fifth athlete to make a full team they dropped from 6th place in the team results to 8th.

Under 15 Boys

Above: Chris on the tough climb to the beacon on the second lap. 

Chris Warren repeated his 11th place results from Pype Hayes Park.  The ever improving Jack Morley finished 46th, a great improvement on 62nd at Pype Hayes Park.  Louie Longhi finished next for the club in 49th place.  Harrison Howie was 63rd, injured Jamie Scoltock limped around to ensure the club benefited from his points finishing 69th.  Jason Pereira also running his first cross country for the club completed the B&R under 15 boys finish in 71st place.  This good turn out and result moved them up 1 place to 5th in the team results.  Chris Warren was also listed as 8th place overall, hopefully he will be able to improve this to at least 6th before the end of the season to claim an individual award.

Under 17 Men

Above: Adam clears the water but is about to injure his ankle.

Sean Bowden finished 9th again, Adam Peacock lost a few places when he landed badly jumping the stream but recovered to take 24th place.  Sam Moran and David Cooper ran close together throughout the race, swapping places a number of times.  Sam finished 47th with David close behind in 49th.  61 finished this race.  They slipped down to 6th place in the team results from 4th following the 1st fixture.  The points at the top of the table were very close before this fixture with only 10 points separating Tamworth in 3rd with 543 points and Leamington in 7th with 533 points, so there is still chance of them reclaiming 4th place and hopefully 3rd before the season is over.  The full results, when they are available, will show how close it still is.

The next West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League Fixture is on Sunday 7th December at Sandwell Valley.

There is a Gloucester Cross Country League fixture next Saturday (15th November) at Blackbridge with age categories from Under 11 through to Seniors, check details on the B&R website (scrolling news), enter yourself on the day. There are already some B&R youngsters planning to run and the Women’s and Men’s teams will be racing there  later in the afternoon.

Selected results

Under 11 Boys

Above: Liam Bowden recovered from being tripped at the start to finish strongly.

Above: Tim powers up the muddy slope out of the water.

Under 15 Boys

Above: Jason conquers the hill on his cross country debut for the club.

Under 17 Men

Above: Sam catching a Birmingham & Solihull runner on the hill.

Click for full results

Overall club positions after 2 races

Click for photo gallery