smrac distance make running a habit; consistency brings success

English XC Relays, Mansfield – 31st Oct. – U17 men 9th, Jivendra 3rd fastest

An early start and a quiet coach up to Mansfield was the start a day which produced some good runs and some very good runs.  It is always nice when we can travel home knowing nobody has had a stinker!

Here is how the day unfolded.

First up were the U15 boys in which we had 5 runners, just short of two full teams.  Fast-improving Tomm Daborn lead off for the A-team and just held off Rory Atkins in the run in to the line.  Ollie Garner took over from Tomm and was back to his normal self after an off-run last time.  Ollie summed up the day well on the way back saying what a good atmosphere there was on the course.  David Peacock was having his best XC run for the B-team (although it is best not to talk about his change over with Rory).  Eoin O'Brien was on the anchor leg for the A team and he brought the team home in 30th of the 87 finishing teams (105 started) , matching to the second Tomm's opening leg time.  The Bs were 43rd after two legs showing good strength in depth in the squad in this age group.  All 5 boys were between 7:08 and 7:21.... a good group should be looking to work together and move up to the next level (remember Jack and Bradley will need a 3rd runner on the U17 team next year!!).

Holidays had taken away Katie, Jocelyn, Nina, Lauren and Bella so the U15 girls were down to two runners which was a real shame.  After two legs Christina Hall and Faye Holder had the team in 33rd of the 95 starters.  Christina (7:58) committed right from the start and beat her best time round the course, only fading a little in the finishing straight.  Faye was slightly slower (8:11) but moved the team up from 41st.  Faye is getting fitter with every race and Christina is training hard at the moment so expect even more from both in the coming months.

Super-confident Rebecca Killip was first up for the U13 girls.  Rebecca was a full minute quicker than last year, running 6:49 to dip inside Katie Iliffe's old record.  More importantly Rebecca ended the first leg in 10th having fought hard all the way and finished strongly. (Armed with highlighter pen, we now know that she was 22nd fastest overall!!)  Kirsty Maxwell was next up and did well to keep running her own race despite the onslaught around her.  Ella Widdop-Gray was in a similar position but just pipped Kirsty's time again (8:50 and 8:42).  All three girls are 'strong as...' and will benefit from the longer courses later in the winter. 103 teams started and the girls ended in 32nd.

Click here for event photos from Mick Hall

Holidays and injuries meant that there were only two U13 boys out too.  That didn't stop the excitement as hopes were high Jivendra Singh could finish in the top half dozen on first leg.  He didn't disappoint, running sensibly at the start in the first five and then pushing the pace on in the woods.  A Vale Royal runner made a break coming out of the woods leaving Jivendra in 2nd but The Kick was unleashed (a little early) and Jivendra pulled away for the honour of coming in 1st.  His 7:05 clocking was 3rd fastest for the day.  Aedan O'Brien had the unenviable task of taking over from Jivendra, and should be commended for getting on with the job in hand.  Being chased down is not fun and Aedan had a solid run in that position.

The U17 Women all had good runs.  Maddie Garner ran the opening leg and did as instructed, giving herself a chance with a positive start which she was able to build on in the 2nd half of the leg.  Maddie's time of 9:39 beat her own record and she ended the leg in a creditable 17th.  Molly Riglin passed one more than she was passed by as she ended in 16th clocking 9:58.  Katie Bryant too did a good job picking people off as others came by and she ended in 16th (10:14).  This was easily our best position in the race and both Molly and Katie will be in the age group next year so they should be looking for close to top 10 next year.  The gap from 16th to 10th was 50seconds.

The U17 men too had two young guns on the team with Bradley Goater and Jack Killip joined by Ross Franks.  It was Ross who lead off on first leg and put himself in the right positions early on.  He finished in 10th which was a good result after a difficult couple of weeks.  A little disappointed immediately afterwards but hopefully satisfied on reflection and a good look at the results.  His time of 9:34 was 15th fastest on the day.  Bradley was next off and passed a couple to end in 8th.  As with Ross he dug deep in the final 500m, perhaps being a little dazzled by the Goodman whirlwind passing him early on.  9:54 was a good clocking for Bradley and he must have been one of the quickest first years.  Jack had the glory/pressure of being on last leg and he dealt with it admirably.  As with the Southern Relays he had to run it on his own, only seeing a Derby runner who flew by in the woods.  Jack's time of 10:02 was another good relay performance for him.  The team was 9th of 92 starters, our first ever top 10 finish.  Well done guys, you should be pleased.... and plotting for medals in the future.

So, a good day - and back in time for X Factor.  The people who have picked up their training under guidance from their coach had the best runs... an obvious lesson to learn there.  Let this be the start of some big runs in the coming months.

Well done to those who came and thanks to those who came to help out.   It was great to see the support squad members give each other around the course.  This is a real strength of what we have... be proud of it.

You can see the full results HERE.

PBs on cross country's are always a little meaningless as the course is never exactly the same.  Apparently it was 35m long this year and a bit sticky.  Nevertheless, we have a list of 'club records' just out of interest.  There were 4 individual club records and two team records - a good show.  You can see our club's past times HERE - will be updated with this year's times soon.