A cold but unusually dry and mud free Stafford Common course greeted our juniors at Saturdays second fixture in the North Staffs Cross Country League. We had competitors in all the age groups, competing for both individual and team honours.
In the U/11 Girls Race the girls covered 1 small lap of 1.6km, with Ruby Lovatt as our first finisher in 4th (5:36), Samantha Pattyson was 9th (5.50) and Maisie Alcock was 32nd (6:41). Great runs from the girls meant that they finished in 4th on the day and are now just 5 points off 3rd.
In the combined U/13 Girls and U/11 Boys race they ran 1 medium lap of 1.8km. In a really close U/13 Girls section, Beatrice Wakefield was 16th (6:07), Lucy Brownsword 19th (also 6:07), Mathilde Wakefield 21st (6:11), despite a fall at the start Molly Ibbs was 23rd (6:25), Holly Cooper was 27th (6:36) and Caitlin Taylor was 31st (7:01). The girls finished in 5th on the day but are in 4th place overall after two fixtures.
The U/11 Boys race was equally as tight, but once again we had a fantastic turnout of our boys, with Oliver Woodward finishing in 4th (5:36), Corey Ellis in 5th (5:38), Ben Ford in 6th (5:41), Jay Marchant in 8th (5:45), Harvey-Ray White was 10th (5:47), Lucas Jones-Barber was 12th (5:53), George Brownsword was 20th (6:08), Daniel Armstrong in 34th (6:33), Harry Ibbs was 37th (6:40) and Myles Davison was 43rd (6:53). Our 10 athletes won once again scoring just 15 points are now leading by 18 points after 2 races – keep it going U/11’s !
In the combined U/15 Girls and U/13 Boys race they raced over 2 medium laps covering a distance of 3.1km. In the U/15 Girls our two competitors Poppy Ranford and Lily Stevens both improved their positions, with Poppy finishing in 11th (10:58) and Lily finishing in 17th (11:35). Well done Girls.
In the U/13 Boys our first finisher was Thomas Barnett in 17th (10:34), with Charlie Ranford finishing in 18th (10:40), Joseph Stevens was 21st (10:51), Ben Killeen was 24th (11:00), closely followed by Connell Latham in 25th (11:03), Sammi Besa was 29th (11:20), Dylan Marchant was 38th (11:54), Harrison Everard was 48th (12:45) and Elliot Sharman was 52nd (13:22). The boys team finished in 6th on the day and are 5th overall after 2 fixtures.
In the combined U/17 Women and U/15 Boys race they completed 1 medium and 1 large lap (4.3km). In the U/17 Girls race Nadine Tomkinson was once again 3rd overall in 15:16, next in 5th was Elizabeth Clarkson (16:01), closely followed by Scarlett Cotton in 6th (16:08) and Misha Twardochleb in 7th (16:22). Our fantastic squad who claimed Midlands Gold last week won once again, this time with just 14 points and now lead by 17 points from City of Stoke AC. Great racing girls.
In the U/15 Boys Louis Wakefield went one better than last time, running a strong race to finish in 3rd in 13:30, Tyler Davison was next in 23rd (16:28) and Matthew Morgan-Bourne was 26th in 16:39. The boys finished in 4th on the day but unfortunately will not be eligible for team awards having not had a full team at the first fixture. Well done Boys, good performances by you all.
The U/17 Men compete within the U/20, Senior and Master Women’s race so covered two large laps (5.2km). We had the same team that claimed Midland Silver Cross Country Medals a week ago and our first finisher was Lewis Nagington in 4th (16:49), with Elliot Smith next in 13th (18:25 – and staying ahead of Becky in the ladies race) and Thomas Mogg was 25th (21:00). The U/17’s finished in 4th place on the day with 42 points and are just 7 points behind third with two fixtures to go. Well done to all three of our U/17 Men.
Our U/20 Women compete within the U/17 Men/Senior Women/Masters Women’s Race and the race was won by Rebecca Twardochleb in 18:28, Sophie Goodfellow was 8th in 19:48, Lucy Matthews was 9th in 19:51 and Alex Oakley was 26th in 21:10. That means that Becky was 1st, Sophie 2nd, Lucy 3rd and Alex 5th in the U/20’s Section and they helped our Senior Ladies team to yet another convincing victory. Well Done to all four of our U/20’s great racing.
Our u/20 Men also compete within the Senior and Masters Mens race, covering 7.6km. Our 3 U/20’s Jordan Nixon, Lee J Watson and Jacob Droogmans were the clubs first three finishers with Jordan in 18th (25:42), Lee J in 19th (25:55) and Jacob in 28th (26:20) and as well as finishing as 5th, 6th and 8th U/20’s they lead the team to finish 2nd on the day in Division 1. Well done to all three athletes, great racing once again.
Congratulations to all our 47 junior athletes who represented the club at this fixture – Next fixture is Saturday 17th November at Park Hall Country Park.
Thank you once again to Bryan Dale at www.racephotos.org.uk for all the photos used – a great free service!