Logs & and water jumps and learning to crawl!

West Midlands Young Athlete’s Cross Country League  

Newbold Revel 

Sunday 11 November

Report – Angela Williamson

We fielded a team of 52 young athletes for Match 2 of the WMYACCL at Newbold Revel on Sunday 11 November, held within the grounds of HMPS college near Stretton Under Fosse.  This represented a full team in all but one of the 8 events, very pleasing indeed.

Conditions were grey, dry and mild, the course relatively flat, with the runners going out of sight for a good portion of the race, winding their way through the attractive, autumnal grounds around a lake.  Some of the races featured an unexpected log jump, courtesy of a substantial fallen tree. 

There was a good turnout to support the athletes, the starter’s horn for each race as ever setting off two stampedes, the competitors down the course and the supporters across the field to the next vantage point!

The programme kicked off with the U17 women and a field of 49 runners, which became strung out quite quickly, leaving many of the women running on their own in plenty of space.  Annie Silvers ran a strong race, holding on well to take 22^nd (16:54), with Brooke Rossney in 37^th(18:23).  

Largest field of the day went to the U11 Boys event, with 113 runners.  As ever this was a fast and furious race, the youngsters learning their race craft, with plenty of strong and close sprint finishes.  Not least from Rafe White, (28^th/6:33) and Tobias Freeman (41^st/6:43).  Only a whisker separated Oliver Hollis, Dexter Sharpe and Dylan Turner (51^st/6:50, 53^rd/6:51 and 56^th/6:55).  Reuben Wheeler raced until the very end, gaining a position with a competitive sprint finish.  Another glorious sea of yellow vests comprising Roman Zawada (88^th/7:36), Tyler Li (92^nd /7:41), Jacob Thomas (93^rd/7:42) and Anton Rangelov (99^th/7:53) concluded an excellent SuAAC team showing.

A strong, quality field of 70 runners turned out for the U17 Men’s race.  Fine athletes Sam and Zak Lambert dug deep as ever, to take 3^rd(16:05) and 5^th (16:23), with Sam clearly having relished the log jump!  Tom Fisher had a good race (19^th/17:17), with Will Mayes in 23^rd(17:27), James Day (31^st/18:07), James Mayes (40^th/18:46) and Josh Davies (63^rd /21:01).  A great team result of 2^nd place.

The sun started to break through for the start of the U11 Girls and another sizeable field of 104 athletes.  Elsie Pipitone got off to a great start and remained strong throughout, successfully contesting a close sprint finish to take an excellent 11^th place in 6:37.  Saskia Atkins took 38^th(7:07), followed by strong sprint finishes from Marnie Short and Poppy West (45^th/7:18 and 51^st/7:24).  A couple of team partnerships from Matilda Hutchings (67^th/7:50) and Indigo Storm Ogilvie-Putt (69^th/7:52) and then Quinn Lancaster (75^th/8:09) and Ella-May Williams (78^th/8:10) were followed by the indefatigable dynamo, Imogen Jolly, smiling throughout, to take 91^st (8:29) and Layla-Rose Sparrow (102^nd/10:21) to round off another splendid SuAAC team effort.    

The sun was still shining weakly for the strong but relatively small field of 61 U15 Boys.  Front runner Fred Jones soon slowed the pace considerably, causing the field to bunch, before the pace stepped up again towards the end of the first lap.  Multi-talented athlete, Will Hovell, clearly in fine form, took 5^th (9:52), followed by Joel Ledgard (12^th/10:22), Arthur Williamson (14^th/10:33), Aran Cooper (19^th/10:54) and Kipp Stevens (42^nd/11:33).  All contributed to an excellent team result of 2^nd place.

Next up the U13 Girls.  Some 110 runners, including 8 for SuAAC, and a cheerful kaleidoscope of fluorescent socks!  The first of our athletes home was Amelie Marshall (12^th/10:56), followed closely by Maggie Silvers (14^th/11:00) and Lucia Nicole Ogilvie-Putt (17^th/11:08).  Emily Lambert and Eliza McLeod finished within a tenth of each other, (26^th/11:19 and 28^th/11:20).  Completing another strong and resilient team showing were Jasmine Mothershaw, (53^rd/12:02), Lyla Turner (59^th/12:08) and Tiffany Li (99^th/13:56).  A fantastic effort which gave us another team 2^nd.

There followed a very competitive U13 Boys race, with a field of 81 runners.  Reuben Joyce ran a strong race (25^th/10:16), along with Charlie-Jay Cassells (32^nd/ 10:25).  Toby Ledgard (50^th/11:43), in his U13 debut, had a good race with a strong sprint finish to hold off his nearest rivals, a great confidence builder going into the next round.  Another U13 debutant, Seth Clark (60^th/11:55), was elbowed painfully and had to pause to be ill during the race but showed incredible resilience to finish with some 20 runners still behind him, adding gamely afterwards that it won’t put him off racing!  Eli Ford also dug deep to complete the U13 Boys SuAAC contingent (64^th/ 12:04).

Last, but by no means least, the U15 Girls.  All that way and a mere two seconds separated 3^rd and our very own Marijke Tear-Verweij in 5^th, so the race is definitely on for Match 3!  Lois Ford had a strong race (24^th/12:21), followed by Elle Weir (32^nd/12:43), Rachel Sparrow (56^th/ 13:40) and Georgia Sharpe (74^th/ 14:48).      

Overall Team Standings after Match 2

1. Rugby & Northampton AC        12823
2. Wolverhampton & Bilston AC    12481
3. Royal Sutton Coldfield AC        11689
4. Birchfield Harriers                     11563
5. Stratford upon Avon AC            10765
6.  

Midlands League Ladies Division 1 Cross Country 

Northampton

9th November 2024

Report – Becks Pridham

The first race of the cross country season for the ladies saw a dry and cool day in Northampton. This is a gently rolling course around a country park, which suits the faster runners. Personally, I find the slow uphill drag for the start and the finish somewhat cruel and unusual, but the younger legs in the team coped brilliantly.

Given the distance from our home town for this first race, Stratford upon Avon AC had an outstanding turnout fielding16 runners. Sadly Pip Bell (joint team captain) was nursing an injury and under strict instructions to not run. She made up for that by cheering on the team with great enthusiasm. 

First home for Stratford was Georgie Campbell (19^th, 21:59) for the seniors. Niamh Hillard (36^th 23:05) had a strong race, coming just outside of the top ten for her age group (juniors). Charly Marshall (39^th 23:20) chased her into the finish chute, especially impressive considering she had made the trip down from Loughborough and had suffered a bike accident in previous days. First time cross country runner for Stratford, Donna Allen (61^st, 24:28) made an outstanding debut for the club, having had some initial nerves beforehand. Donna was the first of the Masters to cross the finish line.

Olivia Robinson (81^st 25:24) found impressive form whilst nursing an injury. Emma Bexson (92^nd 26:11) and Bronwen Mansel (94^th, 26:16) completed the Stratford team’s finishers in the top 100 ladies home. Bronwen is one to watch as she is quiet but clearly has grit and determination, and wonderful to see her chasing Emma at the end.

Stratford’s Masters soon crossed the finish in quick succession with Suzie Ross (118^th, 28:16), Emma Vickers (127^th, 29:15) , Sarah Gillard (130^th 29:31) and Suzi Graham (142^nd 31:03) providing a strong depth of the field for the team.

A battle for the finish between Tilly Campbell (150^th 33:49), Hannah Osborne (151^st 33:50) and Becks Pridham (152^nd 33:52) with Tilly sprinting past Hannah and Becks to pip them at the line. 

Kath Pester (157^th 35:23) and Sue Mothershaw (160^th 36:18) brought the team home with strength and determination.

An absolutely outstanding first race of the season for the ladies cross country team, showing that there is a place in the team for all ages and abilities. 

If any other ladies would like to join us for Race 2 on 30^th November, please let me or Pip Bell know and we can answer any questions you may have.

Birmingham Cross Country League

Cheltenham.

9th November

Report – Malcolm Bowyer.

It was the start of a new Cross Country season with the men’s first race taking place in the spa town of Cheltenham.

The weather was very kind with still and dry conditions for the competitors. It was a three lap course which was run on firm wooded ground and had a water jump to tax the runners as well.

Stratford managed to turn out twelve runners to make up the A team and the B team but unfortunately Max Ross one of Stratford’s ever  reliable runners had to pull out on lap two with a twisted ankle.

The remaining eleven runners all worked hard to make up places for their club. There were 234 runners taking part, first runner to finish was lan Allen for Spa Striders in a time of 32.19.

First back for Stratford was Jamie Hall in 13th with a time of 35.17. Jamie led the Stratford runners from the start. Newcomer Dean Mawby who recently transferred to Stratford AC, was hot on his tail for the 3 laps finishing 16th in 35.21. Not far behind was one of our  former juniors, Henry Wheeler, now competing for the seniors for the first time who finished 67th in a fantastic time of 38.45.

David Teasdale 75th in 39.09, James Lake 84th in 39.33 was followed closely behind by Sam Mercer 101th in 40.07. These 3 runners all ran together for the whole 3 laps. These 6 runners make up the A team for Stratford.

Paul Faithfull ran an excellent race finishing 134th in 41.23. Cross country veteran David Smyth 137th in 42.12 had to fight hard to keep ahead of  Peter Sugden 142th in 42.24. Adrian Mason who had just returned from Florida was 144th in 42.25 with Mike Sheppard 166th in 44.09 to make up the 5 runners in the B team.

Splish, splash, splosh!

Learning to swim with the club

Give it a go!

Report – Simon Penson

Here is my ‘swimming with the club’ story.

Having incurred a serious injury in June (Buttermere Horseshoe Fell race-that’s another story!), I was keen to maintain some level of physical activity. It wasn’t clear at that point if I’d ever be able to run again so I really needed something to aim for. Aside from the gym (boring but necessary to rebuild leg strength), my physio prescribed swimming for my rehab and recovery. Hmm…at that point I could manage the breast stroke but was a complete disaster when it came to front crawl-half a dozen strokes and I’d have drunk half to pool.

However, I’d had ‘learning to swim elegantly’ on my bucket list for years so now was the time!

I contacted Carl, Simon and Paul (‘the guys’) about the sessions-I must admit I was a bit intimidated as I was essentially starting from the beginning-I couldn’t swim a length of front crawl. However, the guys were really encouraging and said ‘come along and see how you get on’. 

In for a penny, in for a pound they say, so I rocked up at the Thursday session a few weeks ago filled with trepidation. Watching the earlier group cruising up and down the pool with effortless tumble turns was impressive-I’d love to be able to do that. However, back down to earth, my ambition was to be able to swim four lengths of the pool comfortably by the end of the month.

There was a mixed group from the club (some of who I’d never met before), and we got into the water (me in the nursery lane). We went straight into it-Carl got me to have a go at swimming a length and walked along beside me. I think I managed a half length… and this enabled him to immediately spot some technical ‘improvement opportunities’!

Skipping forward to now-probably three weeks in-I’ve been to the Saturday sessions too, as well as getting in little paddles (focusing on technique drills) at my gym pool in-between.

I am really pleased with progress and very appreciative of the support and advice the guys have given. There is a lot of technique in the front crawl but it is the most efficient stroke so developing confidence and a smooth style makes swimming easier. I’ve had lots of good advice and learned some good drills. It’s hard work but I can feel the progress and feel excited about learning and (hopefully) mastering a new skill. I think I’m on-track for my four lengths.

Looking forward, those of you who know me also know I am very goal (and crazy adventure) oriented. So my big swimming goal is to traverse Derwentwater next summer.

As it now appears I will be able to run again, I would also like to dip my toe in the water into  the world of triathlon. The club has a really strong cohort of tri-ers I could learn from, so watch this space!

Learning to swim has opened up a whole new world to me. So if, like me, you are a complete newbie when it comes to swimming elegantly and fancy giving it a go, come on down to a club session. You’ll be in good company and will get great support.

The club holds two swimming sessions a week (Thursday evening and Saturday morning) at Shipston Leisure Centre. The sessions are coached, and cost £3.29 for the Thursday session; the Saturday session is free, which is pretty good value!