Juniors and Teens Cross Country

A rarity : a non-Juniors' female : Beatrice Wallis after her U15s race.

On a calm Sunday morning, slightly misty but not too cold or hot, we had ten Under 11s (6 boys and 4 girls), six U13s (one boy and 5 girls), four U15s (3 boys and 1 girl), one U17 male and the coach running the first Gloucestershire League Cross-Country event at Tinkley Gate National Trust near Nympsfield, hosted by Stroud AC.

This was a proper XC course : mixed terrain, uneven ground and a big hill. It was only missing mud and water because of the dry weather we have been having.

Unfortunately, many of our Juniors only get to run round a playing field for XC at school, so the lumpy terrain and hills were a new challenge for many of them, but they all did well. At this level we encourage all Juniors to have a go, if they are old enough, as it's great training, even if endurance running isn't their particular strength.

Three required for a Team: Alice Philp, Sophie Mason and Henrietta Davidson "packing" well

There's an individual championship which uses your best three results and a Team championship which requires 3 runners to finish, each race. All of the age based events are mixed, except the Men's race.

The Under 11s course was fairly flat with a slight incline towards the end of the lap but they had to run through the lumpy orchard with its twisting path and on much of the course the grass was quite long, certainly not like a playing field!

The first five Juniors who passed me on the way to the incline: Albert, Jacob, William R, Hetty and George

Next five passed me before the incline : Alex, William, Clari, Liz-Rose and Hope

We had a strong showing from many of our newer members, who were doing proper XC for the first time, in particular Albert Platt, Jacob Harrison, William Richards, Hetty Franklin, George Farmer, Clari Wallis, William Hollowood and Lily-Rose Stokes, ably supported by "old hands" Alex Willis and Hope Williams. It's great to see new Juniors embracing the XC, even if not all of them said they enjoyed it, William H! Sprinting is more his event. I fully understand.

In the Team events, Cheltenham will take some beating in the U11 boys, but it's quite close for podium positions, we're only 7 points behind 2nd place team, Stroud. In the girls Team race it's very close with only 10 points separate first from our girls and with the next one in our "home", Cirencester Park, we should have a good turnout and so improve our positions

Alice showing strength up the hill; Ed and Abi on their way to the finish

The Under 13s course included the big hill which was quite steep in places with some turns on the angle which did catch a few runners up during the day including Henrietta Davidson in the Under 13s and Club Captain, Aaron Willis in Men' event. We had a good girls team but only one boy, Ed Knight, who had moved up from the U11s and so was running against much older boys, but still did admirably well coming home 14th. The girls packed quite well but, unfortunately, Henrietta Davidson dropped out due to twisting her ankle; so our only finishers were last year's Juniors Achievement Award winner, Alice Averies, supported by Abigail Cunningham, Sophie Mason, Alice Philp, more than enough for a Team. In the Team event, we're a bit behind the leading two but a good turnout at home, could change the situation significantly.

Toby leading Henry and Bertie home just after completing the 'hill' for the second time

The Under 15s course involved the big hill twice and at 5.2km is quite a challenging event. I went up and down the hill twice in my event as well (below) and gained 80m of elevation! Our three boys, sensibly ran the first lap together before running their own race for the second lap, an approach followed by the men later in the day. First home was Toby Conway in an impressive 18th. NB It was a good day for the Conways, as his older brother, Ben, running for Swindon Harriers was 5th (Ben runs second claim for us, but Glos AAA have open XC races, so we can't claim him as one of our Team, frustratingly). Next home was "new boy" Henry Woodfine (20th), and then 'old hand', Bertie Andrews (24th). Our only U15 female was Beatrice Wallis who ran well to come in 14th. Our boys team are a bit off a poidum finish at the moment but only 20 points cover the non-podium places so we could improve significantly at the next meeting.

Ben on his way to a top ten finish

In the so-called "Ladies Race", which also happens to include U17s, U20s and MV65+ categories' races, we had Ben Clarke in the U17s and Dorian Matts in the MV65, with most of the field between them, but no women! Ben continued his improvement, coming home in 7th, recognising he's still only 15. Dorian was pleased that he was only lapped by the first two runners, and didn't bother to sprint at the end as the nearest MV65s were quite a way in front and behind (and also he was quite tired, as 6.5km is quite an increase on his usual distances - NB there's a recent blog on training distance increases).

Acknowledgements:

Many thanks for all those who helped me out on the day : Scott Williams with assembling the tent, Bill and Aaron for packing it away, and parents who took photos and helped support all the children and not forgetting Melanie Averies for the great chocolate brownies!

Results

Under 11 Boys

1st Callum Le Roux (Team Bath AC) 6:06

5th Albert Platt 6:34

13th Jacob Harrison 6:59

20th William Richards 7:18

33rd George Farmer 7:38

36th Alex Willis 7:42

41st William Hollowood 7:59

Team results

1st Cheltenham 12 points

4th Cirencester A 38 points

10th Cirencester B 111 points

Under 11 girls

1st Carrie Striling Jones (Stroud AC) 6:47

6th Hetty Franklin 7:19

17th Clari Wallis 7:56

31st Lily-Rose Stokes 9:34

DNF Hope Williams

Team results

1st Team Bath 44 points

5th Cirencester 54 points

Under 13 girls

1st Lyra Leach (Stroud AC) 12:34

14th Alice Averies 15:32

16th Abigail Cunningham 15:44

22nd Sophi Mason 16:42

23rd Alice Philp 17:06

DNF Henrietta Davidson

Team results

1st Cheltenham 18 points

3rd Cirencester 52 points

Under 13 boy

1. Albert Jakubowski (Team Bath AC) 11:51

14. Ed Knight 13:08

Under 15 boys

1st Connell King (Team Bath AC) 18:05

5th Ben Conway (Swindon Harriers) 19:05

18th Toby Conway 21:13

20th Henry Woodfine 21:35

24th Bertie Andrews 22:59

Team results

1st Team Bath 14 points

7th Cirencester 52 points

Under 15 girl

1st Eleanor Thomson (Cheltenham) 20:42

14th Beatrice Wallis 26:48

Under 17 male

1st Tobi Loughlin (Team Bath AC) 21:58

7th Ben Clarke 22:59

Over 65 male

1st Tom Hutchinson (Team Bath AC) 30:02

17th Dorian Matts 37:23

Individual results can be accessed here and Team results via there.

Hope to have more runners from the Club next time, as it's at Cirencester Park.

Dorian