CLC Striders Race Report from Race Day Three of the Midland / Birmingham regional XC leagues
On the coldest winter’s day for many a year, two teams of CLC Striders Ladies and Men journeyed northward to compete in their respective regional cross-country leagues for the third race of the four-race season. Overnight frost meant the ground was frozen solid and the air hung with freezing fog and mist. Decisions about whether to opt for trail shoes or short spikes filled WhatsApp group chats. But in the end, it all came down to guts and determination to battle over the fields and trails in what is surely one of the most gruelling but rewarding of winter-time team pursuits.
Ladies Midland Cross-Country League, Division 1, Race Day 3 - Warley Woods, Smethwick, Birmingham
Hosted by University of Birmingham Athletics Club
Saturday 11 January 2025
Blighted by injuries to some of their key competitive runners, the CLC Ladies once again still managed to field an intrepid team of four to do battle over the natural bowl-like park- and wood-land of Warley Woods just south of Birmingham.
Just one week after finishing as first lady in the 43-mile Country to Capital Ultra, Ladies captain Helen Knight was the first CLC Strider home on the day in 28th place overall and as 4th in her Masters category. Isabella Gilbert was the next scoring finisher on her debut for the club, just a minute behind, in 43rd place overall. Sarah Bergdahl was 93rd and Hifsa O’Kelly 109th – proving themselves to be faithful and vital members of the team this season.
Hovering perilously close to the foot of their division beforehand, the ladies managed to move up into 15th (out of 18 teams) and out of the relegation zone as a result of their efforts, leaving everything to race for in the last fixture of the season on 8th February 2025.
Men’s Birmingham Cross-Country League, Division 2, Race Day 3 - Top Barn, Worcester
Hosted by Black Pear Joggers
Saturday 11 January 2025
The men had less distance to travel – to just north of Worcester to race over a relatively flat course close to the River Severn at Top Barn. The challenge they faced was even bigger, sitting, as they were, at the foot of Division 2 going into the day. In the end, it was to prove one of the most momentous and memorable days for the men in CLC Striders’ history, as their performances on the day quite literally ‘turned the tables’.
Now competing only very rarely, Will Ferguson effectively came out of racing retirement to remind us of his class and smash his way to a top-10 finish in 9th place, just seconds ahead of an injury-hampered Rob Green, who ran his way to 10th place through gritted teeth. The next pair to finish were Rich Elsworthy and Joe Willgoss, bagging 13th and 19th places respectively, just seconds apart. The remaining two A-Team scorers were Rob Barnett in 25th and Tom Burgess in 39th.
With all six A-Team scorers finishing well inside the top 50, the men registered their best (lowest) ever team score in the Birmingham League (just 115), winning the team competition on the day – both open and Masters – and moving CLC Striders up off the bottom of the table and into 11th place for the whole series.
The B Team finished 6th with Tom Fletcher 72nd, John Comer 81st, Robert Hyams 133rd, Liam Richardson 135th, Tim Brock 167th and Gary Farquharson 171st – all of them pushing runnners from other teams back in the finishing order and helping the overall team result. Richard Aarons, Eoin McQuone and Andrew Danson also raced well and helped the cause.
With just one fixture remaining, things are still incredibly tight, but thanks to a Herculean effort on the day, everything is still to play for, and holding onto Division 2 status seems possible again.