Gloucester Cross Country League

Blackbridge, Gloucester

Saturday 15th November 2008

Big turnouts sees B&R teams climb the leagues

Above: Simon Lanckham  crosses the line as first B&R finisher in the senior men’s race.

The continued popularity of this league saw another big turnout as 9 senior women and 12 men raced for B&R at Blackbridge. However first in action were our youngsters over the course over the playing fields at the Crypt School.

Above: The blast of the whistle sets Jim and Lewis off at the start of the Under 13 Boys race.

Jim Morley and Lewis Anderson were first off in the under 13 boy’s race. Jim covered the 2.2 mile course in 14.11 to claim 4th place which was to be our equal best place on the day. Lewis had to battle in the main pack and fought a duel with a Bourton runner all round the larger second lap but held him off in a sprint finish to be 18th out of 47 in 15.35.

Above: Jack Morley emerges at the top of the bank alongside a Stroud runner.

Another Morley, Jack, was in action in the under 15 boy’s race taking in one fast small lap and two muddier medium laps with the short sharp climb up the bank. Jack followed up on his good run at Leamington last week to be 24th in 21.29 over the flatter 3.1 mile course this week.

Above: Sally Hogan remains our highest placed runner after two fixtures.

Following her third place in the October fixture at Bourton, Sally Hogan kept herself in the hunt for a league medal with another terrific run finishing fourth in 21.33  in the Under 15 Girl’s race.

Above: The B&R women’s team after finishing the race at Blackbridge.

There was a mass of B&R vests in evidence at the start of the senior women’s race and they were clustered together after the small first lap with Jane alongside Jeanette and the others close behind. Jeanette pulled away on the first of the two big laps and stayed ahead to lead the team home. Jane, Tamara and Mel were within a few seconds of each other for most of the 4.2 miles.  Jane held on to be our second finisher closely followed by Mel who fought off a strong late push by Kirsten. The rush of B&R finishers continued with Tamara, Tracey, Charlotte, Dagmar and Caroline. Charlotte had been very nervous about her first cross country race for the club and had only decided to run just before the start but was well-prepared following her recent run in the Birmingham Half Marathon. Charlotte is the fourth member of the Ball family now representing the club as Tamara is one of three daughters who run for us! The women’s team were 7 th senior A team out of 14 clubs on the day and by my reckoning moved up to seventh overall after two fixtures. The women’s  veteran team have a lot to live up to after winning team medals in the league last season and improved their chances of repeating this with a second place finish that moved them up to fourth in the league.

B&R Women's results

Above: The B&R men’s team line up for the camera just before the start of their race.

The final race of the day saw a dozen senior men toe the line for B&R. Simon Lanckham, still a junior, flew past his dad Simon and beat him by just six seconds to be our first finisher. Kevin’s broad smile afterwards showed his pride but no doubt he’ll be looking to reverse the result next time. Of course, Kevin had managed to gain some revenge for Senneleys Park by edging out our third runner Ian Keyte by 12 seconds. Jamie Dancyger, Jamie Hood and Gavin Moorhead completed the scoring six for the senior team – a relatively young team by recent B&R standards including two juniors (Simon and James) and only two veterans (Kevin and Ian). Our men’s Track & Field captain Andy Freeman finished just five places behind Gavin and plans to compete in all but one of this season’s XC fixtures – work and the Villa permiting. Dave Daniels should have been next home as he was in the nineties and moving up the field approaching the start of the last lap but had to pull up sharply with an Achilles injury. Recent form was reversed, just, as Phil Anderson finished just three seconds ahead of Phil Richardson – both missed out on their regular battle with Jimmy Atkins who couldn’t race due to illness. Pete Hawcroft had the two Phils in his sight but the course was too short for him to close the early gap. In spite of disliking cross country Clive Brown  ran his second Gloucester league race of the season and ran the first lap at a fast pace but was disappointed to only finish 126 th out of 175. The senior team finished fifth again as at Bourton but moved up to the heady heights of third overall albeit only 11 points ahead of Gloucester AC – good turnouts at the last two fixtures might secure medals. The veterans team finished third and stay fourth in the table but closed the gap on third placed Severn AC to 15 points.

B&R men's results

Pos.	Name	Time
22	Simon Lanckham	34-34
25	Kevin Lanckham	34-43
28	Ian Keyte	34-55
48	Jamie Dancyger	36-24
68	James Hood	37-44
76	Gavin Moorhead	38-04
81	Andy Freeman	38-26
103	Phil Anderson	40-02
104	Phil Richardson	40-05
110	Pete Hawcroft	40-40
126	Clive Brown	41-51

 Click for 53 photos from the races

Click for full results on the Gloucester AA website