You had to be there Part 2

Match 2 of the West Midlands Young Athlete Cross Country League

Warley Woods, Smethwick,

Report – Angela Williamson

This fixture began with a two-minute silence for Remembrance Sunday.  Soon after it was the starter’s horn signalling the downhill sprint to the first corner of the U17 Women’s race. 

Marijke Tear-Verweij, the sole Stratford competitor, moved into an early 4^th position but gained through the hills, looking effortless, to lie third behind race leaders Olivia McGhee (Rugby & Northampton AC) and Holly Turner (City of Stoke AC).  Tear-Verweij finished strongly to take an assured and well-deserved 3^rd/ 16:43.

Stratford’s U11 Boys won equal best turnout of the day, with 8 athletes, including some returning debutants from Match 1.

It was also the biggest field of the day, with a total of 146 competitors. 

The boys gave it their all and relished the hilly track: Rafe White 15^th/ 7:08, Simon Zawada, 22^nd/ 7:21, Lucas Shephard, making his debut, 23^rd/ 7:21, Oliver Hollis, 45^th/ 7:31, Jacob Thomas, 65^th/ 7:50, 74^thJamie Cassells 7:55, 80^th Henry Cotton 7:59, 129th Max Loom 8:54.  

The U17 Men’s race ebbed and flowed, particularly in the early and middle stages, but Archie Lane (Leamington C&AC) and Gabriel Wagstaff (Bromsgrove & Redditch AC) eventually eased clear, with Stratford’s Sam Lambert taking an excellent and well-earned 3^rd place (16:04).  Tom Fisher ran strongly to take 10^th/ 17:23 followed by Will Hovell, 11^th/17:37, Joel Ledgard, 22^nd/18:25 and Arthur Williamson 27^th/18:38.  Aran Cooper made a very welcome return from injury and it was great to see him finishing strongly in 61^st/21:32.  

The U11 Girls equalled the U11 Boys with a turnout of 8 athletes, once again including some debutantes from Match 1 returning to take on the hills.  Saskia Atkins showed continuing strong progress to take 9^th/ 7:36, followed by Nell Wheeler, 15^th/ 7:55, Olivia Hunt, on her debut, 28^th/8:10, Florence Andrews, 33^rd/ 8:16, Marnie Short, 44^th/ 8:35, Indigo Ogilvie-Putt 48^th/ 8:41, Quinn Lancaster, 60^th; 8:54 and Ella-May Williams, 79^th/ 9:40.

All 3 Stratford U15 Boys dug in and ran bravely to complete the testing course, Harry Coulson, making his debut, in 47^th/ 13:50, Toby Wilkinson in 49^th/14:00 and Max Rossney in 64^th/ 16:57. 

Stratford’s U13 Girls ran superbly well as a team, supporting and propelling each other along.  Amelie Marshall was the first SuAAC vest over the line, in 23^rd/ 11:22, closely followed by Eliza McLeod, 29^th/11:27, only just ahead of Emily Lambert, who ran a great race and strong finish to take 31^st/ 11:29.  Next came Poppy West in 44^th/ 12:00, Lara Ryan-Gill 82^nd/ 13:37, Florence Rowlands, 86^th/13:58 and Layla-Rose Sparrow, who didn’t just run the whole way, but did it with a smile, to complete in 95^th/ 16:28.

Stratford’s Charlie Jay- Cassells ran a fabulous race and rightly looked delighted to take 10^th/ 10:08.  Toby Ledgard and Dexter Sharpe ran strongly, and a long way up and down hills, to finish a second apart, in 53^rd/ 11:14 and 54^th/ 11:15!  

Returning from her debut last month in the U15 Girls race was Eve Ashley, who coped with the challenging course brilliantly to take 22^nd/14:49.  Jasmine Mothershaw ran bravely to take 34^th/ 15:21, with Rachel Sparrow showing great determination to get home in 48^th/ 15:56.  

All-in-all some pleasing performances, but we’ll be hoping for a fuller turnout in Match 3 to challenge for the team competition.

Our 7th place finish on the day sees us slip to 6th in the table overall.

We had just over 40 runners turn up on the day, all of who performed magnificently, but the absence of just a few meant that in 4 races we didn’t have the full compliment on the start line.

The result of which probably cost us something like over 1200 points, more than enough for us to have closed the gap between ourselves in 7th place on the day and  Rugby & Northampton in 2nd place. Had we been able to field a full team we could now probably be 3rd for the season overall as opposed to 6th.

Hopefully for our next fixture at Newbold Revel, Rugby, on 7th December we will have a full team

Despite the absences, there was lots to be proud of for those who raced, many of who had had a late night on Saturday due to their attendance at the club Awards

The U11 boys are 4th overall, just a single point ahead of Birchfield Harriers, finishing 5th on the day, within catching distance of a top 3 place.

Our U11 girls are enjoying an excellent season, finishing 3rd on the day. They are in 4th place overall, a mere 7 points behind R&N.

The under 13 boys finished 11th on the day and are in the same position for the season to date. Unfortunately they were a couple of runners short.

Our U13 girls were 5th on the day and are 6th for the season to date, just 10 points adrift of Wolverhampton, a gap that will be closed when Emily lambert’s points from the first race are added.

The U15 boys, who were also a couple of runners short, were 11th on the day and 12th place overall. Our U15 girls also finished 11th and are in 10th place overall. 

It was onwards and upwards for the U17 men, with 5 top 20 finishers. They finished in 2nd place, just 10 points behind Leamington and 26 points behind them for the season to date.

Marijke was our sole representative in the U17 ladies race, single handedly securing an 11th place finish for the team. They are in 9th place for the season as a whole