CLC Striders race reports - Midland and Birmingham Cross Country Leagues
Midland and Birmingham Cross Country Leagues, Race Day One - Saturday 15 November
##### Ladies Midland Cross-Country League – Race Day One, Leamington
Just managing to field the minimum team of four requisite runners, the CLC Striders ladies battled hard to finish as 8thteam on the day in their first regional league fixture of this winter season. With the ground well and truly saturated after Storm Claudia and a stream crossing to navigate it was a true test. Both the women’s regiona l Divisions were racing together, making for a field of just over 500 runners on the day.
Helen Knight led the team home in a time of 27:04 as the 6th Masters finisher – with Kate Telford just behind her in 27:13 as 7th Masters finisher and Rachel Vines in 29:22 as 16th Masters finisher – racing well for 2nd and 3rd team spots. But performance of the day came from VF60 veteran Nikki Smith who stepped up to complete the team, competing in a cross-country race for the first time in 9 years and clocking a time of 34:16! And the ladies earned a brilliant 2nd place on the day in the Masters competition.
Men’s Birmingham Cross-Country League – Race Day One, Leamington
The CLC Striders men turned out in force for the first fixture of their Birmingham Cross Country League season, also held up in Leamington – which saw all three Divisions of the League (818 men all together) all race together, with CLC Striders competing in Division 2.
With athletes from all over the region, including a team of elite students from Loughborough University, the field was incredibly strong. Rob Green ran brilliantly to secure 11th place overall and finished as 1st in the Masters category as the 1st finisher for the club. Just over a minute behind him, Joe Willgoss ran strongly for 19th place overall and 3rd in the Master category. With Pete Duffy close behind in 25th overall and 6th in the Masters, it was clearly going to be a good day for the club.
Tom Burgess was back to his best, earning a strong 36th place, Rob Barnett was 43rd (and 10th in the Masters), and the battling Tom Fletcher was the 6th A-team scorer, just outside the top 50 in 53rd place. The A Team were 4th overall on the day, bagging the third promotion spot (as Loughborough Uni, who invariably finish first, don’t formally count in the league standings this season due to serving a penalty). And the Masters team were first overall, by some margin, marking one of the best day’s racing for the CLC Striders men in their regional league.
The B-Team runners – all helping by pushing other teams’ finishers down the score-board and earning the 2nd B-Team spot – were, in order of finishing, Will McNeile, Fred Reid, Gavin Woods, Jonathan Margetts, John Comer and Jamie Hartnoll. Also running, and playing their crucial part in the wider scoring drama, were Oli Wright-Jones, Liam Richardson, Tim Brock and Gary Farquharson.