Race Day 4 Midland Cross Country League, 8 February 2020
In the calm before Storm Ciara wreaked her weekend havoc, the CLC Ladies and Men’s cross country teams ventured out of county to compete in their final race days of this year’s Midland Cross Country League – the ladies in Division 1 and the Men in Division 2.
At Newbold Comyn, near Leamington the ladies capped off another solid season by retaining their position in the highly competitive Division 1, with a standout performance from Liza Barry on the day, finishing as 1st in her Masters category and 17th overall. The ever-reliable Helen Knight finished in the top 50, too, in 43rd overall, as the 9th in the Masters category. Rachel Vines was not far behind in 55th overall and the fourth team scorer on the day, after a season blighted by illness, was Amanda Steer, in 82nd place overall.
On the day, the ladies finished in 11th place overall in the team competition. But in the individual season standings, Liza Barry tied for 2nd in her Masters, category, with Helen Knight also inside the top 10 Masters athletes – a great achievement for the CLC ladies once again.
The CLC Ladies, from left to right: Rachel Vines, Amanda Steer, Helen Knight and Liza Barry
Meanwhile, up in Lilleshall in a race hosted by Telford AC, the men slogged it out one more time across the country. Will Ferguson led them home in a good top-10 finish in 8th. Iain Porter ducked into the top 50 in 49th place as the next finisher, with Dan Bazzard not far behind in 56th. Battling a niggling injury, Tom Kabala toughed it out for 66th while the much-improved Richard Symonds finished in the top 100 for the first time in 93rd and Jon Howes bagged the sixth team scoring place in 96th
The faithful Paul Lockyer, who has raced every cross country fixture this season, finished in 118th, Will Pearce bagged 122nd, Tom Fletcher finished in 159th, Hedley Phillips in 183rd and Andrew Gage in 187th.
On the day, CLC Striders finished in 11th in the team standings but they were 10th overall for the season, meaning they stay in Division 2. In the individual standings across all the fixtures, four CLC athletes finished in the top 50, with Will Ferguson achieving 7th place (without competing in all the races), Iain Porter finishing 36th, Tom Kabala 37th and Dan Bazzard 46th.
The CLC men, back row from left to right: Dan Bazzard, Will Ferguson, club official Martin Bick, Paul Lockyer, Andrew Gage, Tom Fletcher, Hedley Phillips, Jon Howes, Iain Porter; front row from left to right: Tom Kabala, Will Pearce and Head Coach Brendan Ward