West Mids XC League - Sunday 4th October
Young Athletes off to a storming start
Bright sunshine greeted the start of the Cross Country season for Rugby & Northampton AC young athletes with spirits still riding high from an outstanding track & field season. The first race in the highly competitive West Midlands XC League saw a record number of 65 athletes travel to Pipe Hayes Park in Birmingham to compete against 19 other teams from across the Midlands.
After all the results were counted R&N AC finished in an outstanding overall 1st place leading from Royal Sutton Coldfield who have won the overall trophy for the past 13 years.
Under 11’s
A fantastic effort from the U11 boys, Hayden Arnell (5th), Cameron Roberts (31st), Alexander Thompson (34th), Riley Pitts (55th), Ryhs Dickerson (57th) & Lloyd Faulkner (69th). Although it was a small team they ran superbly well in the true spirit of XC running, gritty, committed and finishing off with a sprint finish. A great performance that is rewarded with a well placed 4th position out of a very competitive field.
The U11 Girls finished the first race of the competition in team 1st place after a huge effort by all, many of whom were in their first race for the club. Phoebe Ellis stormed home in 1st place to become only the third club athlete to win one of this Leagues races, with Georgia Wright (10th) Constantia Liburd (15th), Lily Carmichael (16th) all in their XC debuts, ever reliable Ella Bromley (24th) completed the team scoring runners. Charlotte Vessey (31st), Lauryn Peters (34th), Luisa Moen (35th) Eva Woodbridge (44th), Millie Mason (49th), Grace Linnett (53rd), Katie Woods (54th), Megan Hughes (56th), Eva Spellman (72nd) Charlotte Valentine (79th)Olivia McEwan (88th), Niamh Chippington (89th) Felicity Smith (95th ). This was a huge achievement for these athletes in a strong field of runners many competing in their first race. These young athletes have inspired the whole club with this great performance.
Under 13’s
The U13 boys took their coach's advice to get a good start a little too literally when they all approached the first corner placed in the top ten. Although they could not quite maintain this furious pace, Billy Bowman- Shaw ( 6th) and Jack Murphy ( 10th) did manage to stay with the frontrunners. Adam Wright and James Miller finished a very creditable 21st and 36th respectively, while Amit Patel in his first competitive outing beyond the 200m mark found the new territory challenging but still finished in 65th with several runners coming in behind him. Overall, this was an excellent start to the cross-country season with the team placed 4th overall in their age group.
The under 13 girls put out a very strong team of 14 athletes in a large field of 130 competitors. Charlotte Murphy was the highest placed runner in 12th place less than 40 seconds behind the winner. Just behind Charlotte was Katie Clubb in 15th, Isobel Hughes 19th Alison Inwood 28th. The rest of the team performed well to help the u'13s achieve 3rd place overall. A special mention should go to Ciara Moore who finished a very creditable 45th in her first x country race and sprinter Harriette Vessey.
Under 15’s
Despite suffering from a lack of numbers, both U15 squads produced excellent performances to support the rest of the team.
The U15 girls finished an extremely creditable 6th place overall in one of the most competitive races of the day. The team were lead home by Sarah Bennett (19th) who underlined her obvious potential with a top 20 finish in her first major X country race for the club. Genevieve Roberts also produced an excellent run to finish 27th whilst Click Blake also ran well, despite suffering from the effects of a cold, to finish 32nd. Mary Hughes ran and competed strongly throughout the race and finished 42nd, with Megan Love also finishing in a creditable 78th position. A special mention also for Harriet Snead, who despite being a new club member and being more at home on the track, turned out for the team and completed an extremely tough challenging course.
The U15 boys produced a similar battling performance to finish in 5th place overall. The multi talented Ben Jennings competed with the leading group from the start, eventually finishing in 17th place. George Goodwin (27th) and Michael Inwood (41st) both showed grit and determination to finish inside the top 50 in a fast race over the demanding course. Likewise, Alex McLaren and Nick Scales produced excellent efforts and both contributed valuable points to the squad total score and final finishing position.
Under 17’s
When many people have made their way home the U17Men gear themselves up to cover 4.8km around 3 laps of the course. The supporters that remained were treated to a fine performance of distance running by the 7 athletes who took on the field with determination to finish in overall 2nd place only 9 points off the top spot. Luke Robinson led the team home in style to finish 4th closely followed by Rory Grant 7th and an impressive run by Conor Hills in 11th. Robert Male (19th), Rory Bowman-Shaw (30th), Stewart Bates (46th) and George Cardwell struggling back from injury (56th).
The under 17 girls continued with the good form of last year in the first league race of the season. Emily Waugh had a fine run finishing in 3rd place. Three places behind her was Charlotte Inwood in 6th. Briony Banks had a good run to come in 20th and Eleanor Barnes in 25th helped the team to a fine second place overall.
Athlete of the Match
In recognition of her achievement in winning Phoebe Ellis was voted Athlete of the Match.
