The Long and Short of it.

Inter County Schools XC Championships

Himley Hall, Dudley.

Report – David Jones

WSAA Inter Counties Cross Country races are competitions run by the Warwickshire County Athletics Association (WCAA). These events involve athletes from various counties competing against each other.

Selection for this Inter Area race was based on athletes being a top 10 finisher at the Inter District race held at Stratford School earlier in the season.

For last Saturday’s race, held at Himley Hall, Dudley, there were treacherous driving conditions on the way up with lots of standing water on the motorway.

However, upon arrival the course conditions were surprisingly not too bad with, some long grassy areas and very muddy patches. 

In race one, the Minor Girls, the participants ran off the course, cutting out a corner but getting back on track for their second lap. This was caused by one of the marshals not turning up. 

In that race, the Stratford contingent of the Warwickshire team were led home by Poppy West in 30th place with a time of 10:23. Poppy was followed by Sara Clewer (61st – 11:27) and Annabel Ryan-Gill (71st – 12:28). Dexter Sharpe was our only competitor in the boys race, finishing in 60th place with a time of 10:23.

We had 6 juniors competing in the Junior Girls race, with Lucia Ogilvie-Putt finishing1st of these 6 in 14th place overall and a time of 10:51. Lucia was followed by Maggie Silvers (31st – 11:22), Amelie Marshall (52nd – 11:39), Eliza McLeod (54th – 11:20), Emily Lambert (61st – 11:45) and Jasmine Mothershaw (67th – 11:50).

Robin Gallagher (41st – 10:34) and Charlie Castle (49th – 10:38) were our representatives in the Junior Boys race, helping the county finish in 2nd place in this age group.

The Inter Girls race saw Marijke Tear-Verweij (1st – 14:15) continue her successful season by finishing in 1st place out of the 62 competing. Portia Nabney was 34th in a time 16:32.

By the time of the Inter Boys race there was no green left, just mud!  Warwickshire ran well as a team, practiced the start a few times and looked a strong unit. Three laps up the hill in the mud was a big effort and our all conquering Inter Boys helped Warwickshire secure the top slot in this age category, with Will Hovell finishing in 6th place in 14:02, followed by Joel Ledgard (18th – 14:38), Arthur Williamson (26th – 14:57) and a back to health and determined Sam Plumb ( 55th – 15:42).

Our 18 junior club members helped the Warwickshire team finish in 3rd place overall.

Little and Large getting their medals!

U17 Female 80m hurdles   Ava Sheppard    13.30

U17 Female 800m              Annie Silvers      2:18.5

U17 Female 300m              Annie Silvers      43.4s

U17 Male     Shot                Ethan Winning    11.18m

U17 Male     High Jump      Olisa McKenzie  1.75m

Midland Race Walk Winter League  

Report – Paul Hawkins

The second match in the league was held at Stourport on Sunday 23 November, with Senior races over 5k and 10k on an undulating course on the cycle way.

There were also junior races over 1k and 2k on the cold windy day, although there was bright sunshine most of the time.

For the first time this year, rather than competing at both distances in 2 separate races, the association changed the rules, so that everyone who entered the 5k race received a time and only those in the 10k race then continued on to walk the 2nd 5k to make up the total distance. 

Both Stratford walkers, Jan McLure and myself, chose to race the full 10k, thus receiving a time for both the 5k and the 10k, rather than having to walk 15k, as it had been in the past!

In the windy conditions there were 11 entrants for the 5k race with 7 continuing on to walk the 10k distance. Everyone’s time’s were adversely affected by the hilly course and strong winds, so it wasn’t a day for PB’s for most.

Jan McLure continued her excellent recent form to finish 7th overall in the 5k and 4th female in 33.54, not far off her best and she backed this up with 68.53 for the 10k, 4th overall and 2nd female, which beat her previous best from earlier in the season. 

I was having my first race since a knee replacement in Apri,l so was happy just to get round despite being slow, with 5k in 43.05 and 87.34 for the 10k.

Both of us had clean walks with no cards from the judges

Jan will be racing in the final fixture of the season at Warwick in December where she will hoping for league medals, while I will be Team Managing at the next junior cross country league fixture.