Men’s XC Team Captain Rob Andrew reports on the team’s very strong, albeit ultimately disappointing final league race of the 2012-13 season.
The final x-c league of the season took place at Perry Barr on
Saturday over a relatively flat, and fast course. Despite a valiant
performance with the A team finishing 10th, and the B team 3rd the
men’s team were unable to close the gap on the 13th placed team and
were relegated to Division 2. This only after Wolves and Bilston
pulled out all the stops to produce a tremendous performance on the
day to finish 5th and hold off our late challenge.
This is a disappointing end to the league season, but I firmly believe
the club is stronger now than it has ever been before, it is good
enough to survive in Division 1 (barring exceptional bad luck with
injuries) and that promotion should be achieved next year with maybe
one or two team and individual prizes on the way.
On to the race. Gary Blackman and Dean led the A team home in 13th and
28th respectively. Both have been injured earlier in the year and its
great to see them feature so well in this high class field. Paul
Thompson who has been the bedrock of the team this year, scoring in
all 4 races, finished in 49th with Chris Collins 72nd. Sam Chatwin
continued his recent good form finished 87th just beating Gareth in
88th.
Chris Tarren had another fine run finishing 2 seconds behind in 90th,
with Rich Bayliss another 8 secs back in 95th. Sean was close to
making it 9 home in the top 100, finishing just outside in 102nd. (He
had a race # 104 and we had joked before the race that matching that
would be a good result, so next time he’ll have to be given a lower
number) Brad Tod battled well to finish 113th having started really
hard to try and get up into the A team places, Stuart Pearson was
121st and Oliver Kirkland completed the B team in 150th place. It’s
worth noting that the B team was 3rd on the day and 5th overall
showing our strength in depth, and should be aiming to win next year’s
B team competition in Division 2.
John McKeon was first back for the C team in 154th, Jonathan Hammond
gave everything in 162nd, Daniel Wison 171st,just pipping James
Collins 172nd by 2 seconds. Andy Hoole was 192nd and Stuart
Muggridge196th ensured our first 3 teams finished inside the top 200
places.
Jack Roberts 213th, Anthony Stuart 223 (I had thought it was 222 when
I collected his disc) and Barrie Roberts 237th completed the scoring.
Overall a good day’s performance but sadly the wrong overall result
for the season. This is my last year as x-c captain as I’ll be
resigning at the next AGM and had hoped we could have retained our
Division 1 status. I’ve enjoyed seeing the club grow stronger over the
last 3 years and am proud of the achievements we’ve made in that time
and to have been part of the team. I know Joe Lewis felt the same way
and he’d have enjoyed seeing some of the performances from yesterday
and recent races. Thanks to everyone who’s been part of that
(particularly Joe) and look forward to continued success next year and
beyond.
Just in case anyone is as dim as me, The email purporting to be from Bill Adcocks in Manilla, is a fraud. He’s alive and well in Coventry, and is apparently aware of this… so don’t reply.
As a supporter of the club i was proud of the way the mens team ran during the season not once did they ever give up yes we had some unfoutunate results with injouries but every body rose to the occasion and did better then they thought. May i also say that who takes on the role of xc captain they will have to tread in very big footsteps well done Rob
We will regain promotion, way too good to go down judging by the performances here. Was most upset and frustrated to miss this last meeting due to illness. Proud of the team for running their absolute best. Very strong runs by Gary, Dean and Paul with some brill improvements across the board by all of the team. Next season we potentially could have half the top 20 finishers in division 2!
Major thanks to Rob for his encouragement and support to all of the team. Highly regarded and respected across all of the clubs, we have been fortunate to have him lead the team and represent the club in the league and the other XC meets. This season we retained once again our County Masters title and won the Midland Counties XC Division 2 title. In the 3rd league meeting the Bournville men achieved their lowest ever points total in division 1. Thank you Rob.
Well done guys. As Rob says, it is disappointing that you will be running in Div 2 next year, but there have been some brilliant performances over the season and you have done so well. Next year, injuries permitting, you will be back to full strength and will hopefully return to Div 1.
Thankyou Rob for all your hard work and leadership as Mens XC Team Captain. I like to think that JL would have been well satisfied with the time,effort and improved performances achieved by BvHers. Yes,disappointing to return to Division 2,but `we` can do well next season and return to Division 1.
Gyda nerth ymlaen/Forward with strength
The `Sea of Tea`l is increasingly well regarded in National and Regional running circles.