U20 MEN AND SENIOR MEN TEAM MANAGERS REPORT

CAU INTER COUNTIES CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS WORLD CROSS COUNTRY TRIALS

PRESTWOLD HALL11H MARCH 2017

Following the usual frustrations in the build up with withdrawals, injuries and unavailability, we manage to gather 2 scoring teams out on Saturday, with the Senior Men fielding the full complement of 9 runners.

SENIOR MEN

As previously described, the Senior Men raced a full team with even a travelling back up as reserve, many thanks to Mark Lambell for his support. The first Leicestershire athlete home was Sam Stabler who was entered as a wild card and finished a brilliant 4th to put himself in contention for the World Cross Country team in Uganda. Sam was injured for the county championships and was unable to commit himself to be entered for Leicestershire.It is good to see him back to form

Our County Champion, Frank Baddick led the team home in an excellent 24th place, and proved a reliable team leader. The rest of the team who competed showed tremendous application and we had some notable results especially from the veteran runners who acquitted themselves well. The next runner in was Mark Couldwell, 114th, the evergreen Mark Powell, 127, Tom Whitmore, 142, Jason Williams 155, Chris McMillan 174, Tom Mahon 194, Gavin McDermott 200 and Ben Harding 223. Tom Mahon, clearly not at his best but showing great spirit to help the team and complete the race. The team finished 16th overall with 736 points, a very worthy achievement and thanks to all the guys for their efforts.

UNDER 20 MEN

This race was also officially a trial for the World Cross Country Championships in Uganda and therefore the level of competition was intense. Even though we were denied the services of Ben Dijkstra, who was targeting other races, we had high hopes in this one with Sam Stevens hoping to challenge for the GB team. Sam duly performed finishing in an excellent 4th place and therefore hopefully will be included. Olly Freer was next in in a solid 70th, closely followed by Amrik Gill, 90th, Tom Corby 116, Josh Smith 132 and James McCall 150. The team finished 15th with 281 points. The boys who did compete showed real determination and it gave those not used to this level of competition, the chance to compare themselves against the best. The only disappointments here were the late drop outs, and those who did not turn upon the day meaning we only had 6 finishers which is a shame.

I would like to say a big thank you to all those who competed in the two races. You all showed great heart and competed really well. You should be justly proud of yourselves.

I would also extend my thanks to Cherie for all her hard work and assistance, and to the other team managers, for their help, especially Ian Wilson for his wise counsel.

As a complete aside, the only downside to the day was the Junior Women’s race where Amelia Quirk of Berkshire was disqualified having been sent the wrong way by a Marshall whilst leading the race. Hopefully common sense will prevail and she will be selected for the world cross country championships.

Best Wishes

Bill Winter