West Mids YA Lge - Good News from the Final Meeting

From Bob Lynch (1st March 09)

 

We were greeted by sunshine and almost perfect conditions. No frost, little wind and some sunshine! Many superb individual performances with 19 youngsters recording their best result of the season.  Probably the best turn out of the season too, with full teams in all but one age group .

First off were the U11 girls. In a field of over 100, Lauren Phillips was first Tipton runner home in 18th place, followed by Chloe Barker, Isher Mander, Daniella Sedgley, Charlotte Mould and Abigail Owen.

Next to race were the U17 lasses. The biggest field of the season and run at a cracking pace.  Sophie Lynch put in an amazing uphill sprint at the end and went from 5th to 2nd in the last 200m.  She finished just one second behind the winner.  Katie Harper came in not far behind in 7th place - an excellent performance given that she had been ill up to a few days before the race. Third Tipton counter was Sophie Ward with easily her best performance of the season.  Leah Sargeant also produced her best result, with able support being provided by Megan Collins, Sarah Farmer, Rachel Ridley and Nat Davis. The girls came second on the day but had to be content with third team place in the series.  Individually, Sophie Lynch got third series place and Katie managed fourth.

Third race was the U11 boys.  Chris Davis pulled out all the stops and finished fourth, just 11 seconds behind the winner. Very much his best result this season and one which gave him 6th place overall in the series.  He was followed in by Gareth Johnson, Elliot Jones, Luke Bodin, Kieran Marsh, Fraser Bartlett (in his first race), Daniel Perrin and Matt Plant (also his first race).

Next were the U15 girls.  We seem to be struggling in this age group at the moment, with just three stalwarts managing to keep the Tipton flag flying.  Lara Tipper and Lauren Evans both equaled their best season result today with Lauren Fairfax achieving her best placing to date.

Just after midday, the U13 lads raced, with Luke Vine, Jack Caddick Joseph Fairfax, and Mitchell Turner all achieving seasons best.  Dan Owen was not far off his best result and Jacob Anson and Dan Evans had good races too. 

Potentially one of our strongest teams is the U13 girls. Ailish Craig bounced back to get 7th place today which made her fifth overall in the series.  Heidi Shaw came in at 31st which is by far her best result of the season and hopefully means she is regaining her form. Chloe Hingley also had her best race and Hayleigh Wright equaled her best result.  Sophie Harling made a good debut with both Sophie Hill and Katie Lewis improving on January.

A stunning improvement for U15's Matt Davis and George Duckworth in 12th and 13th respectively. They both looked like different runners today.  Adam Sattor also ran well to snatch 23rd place, with the other counters being Jordan Drummond and Tom Hammond. Close behind were Josh Leonard and Ryan Keys with season's bests. All the lads ran well and the team was unlucky to lose third place overall to Tamworth.

Finally, the U17 lads three-lapper took place with an amazing 9 runners from Tipton.  There was the usual high-class field and it turned out to be a very fast race.  Manzu-Lyn Cain and Lee Whitehouse responded to the challenge by running fast from the start and were rewarded with high positions (13th and 15th respectively). Jon Hunt was close behind in 20th position. Sam Davies was 24th with John Carpenter 25th in his first race. Matt Rice, Phillip Watson (carrying an injury), James Sloan and Steven Wood all had good races.  Despite their efforts, the lads remained outside the team medals but did manage to climb to 5th place overall. 

The award ceremony followed the last race, thanks to the results team for getting this started without too much delay and unusually, Alexander Stadium was bathed in sunshine. It was actually warm!

A special mention for the Tipton athletes who managed to get to all five meetings:

Chris Davis, Gareth Johnson, Luke Bodin, Mitchell Turner, Jacob Anson, George Duckworth, Tom Hammond, Jon Hunt, Sam Davies, Matt Rice, Phillip Watson, Lauren Phillips, Ailish Craig, Heidi Shaw, Sophie Hill, Lauren Evans, Sophie Lynch, Katie Harper, Sophie Ward and Nat Davis. Well done!

See you all in October for the first race of the 2009-2010 season.
Bob Lynch