Midland Cross Country Champs 2011

Midland Champs this year were held in the sticky mud of Newbold Comyn and in close to freezing conditions. First up were the U13 boys with the team coming sixth and Luke Bodin first scorer in 29th place. Next up were the Junior Men where Jelle Verwer had another cracking performance just missing out on a medal with fourth place. Always in the top ten Jelle moved through in the second half, picking off a number of class athletes and finishing strongly only 7 seconds behind third.

Next up the U13 girls finished in 13th with Isher Mander top counter in 48th place. Then U15 lads finished the team in 13th with Luke Vine 71st. The U17 women were 9th with Charlotte Davies in 41st first home. First home in the U15 girls was Ailish Craig in 22nd place and the team 9th. Under 17 Men saw Courtney Ricketts first home in 74th.

The senior women's race saw us field a strong team and they very nearly came away with a medal taking an extremely credtable fourth place. Sue Street continued her great run of form with a tremendous 19th place. Ably backed up by Lynne Cox in 33rd, Jo Ritson in 34th and Amie Fithern in 43rd.

The Senior Men's race was an extremely close team affair. Phil Hinch and Ade Holliday put in very solid performances with 5th and 11th places. Ben Gamble continued improving with his highest Midland placing in 23rd with Dan Beier putting in a tremendous last mile to pull back up to 29th. Last two counters were Nigel Stirk and Mick Hill in 42nd and 44th place respectively. After being out of the sport for a lots of years, Mick has put in a huge amount of effort over the last 18 months and this was a fantastic achievement to make the count and the another step back towards fitness. Notts AC ran away with the team race but the silver and bronze was a see sawing battle between Coventry, Bristol and ourselves. We weren't sure which was it went until the announcement and we'd taken the bronze by one point from Bristol with Coventry only four points ahead. Great reward for the team.

Lots of photos uplaoded to the gallery - thanks to Bob Lynch.

Results

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Ailish Craig 22nd in U15G

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Sue Street 19th in Senior Womens