The Cross Country season is back underway with the Midlands Relays held at Aldersley Stadium, Wolverhampton on 19th October and the British Masters XC Championships held in Nottingham on 26th October.
Midlands XC Relays, 19th October
Photo: Pete Hickman
The Relays are always a great start to the season with Senior Men & Masters in teams of four, and Senior Women & Masters in teams of three with each leg being 6km on a mixture of fields and along a trail. As always, Bournville Harriers teams were well represented and were joined by some of our newer members. This was Team Manager, Ian Mackenzie‘s, first race in charge of the Men’s teams. Women’s Team Manager, Rhian Littlewood literally led from the front with the fastest BvH Women’s leg of the day in a time of 24:38. The fastest leg for the Men’s team was Mat Pollard‘s 20:09. The Masters A Teams both finished in 5th position, so team honours go to Iain Jones, Kevin Morris, Sean Rose and Grant Whigham for the men and the women’s team comprising Alison Price, Monica Baptista and Lorna Al-Ani.
The results were as follows:
Senior Men
13 6 Bournville Harriers [A] 1:25:20 27 – 1 Matthew Pollard (11) 20:09 2 James Ashley (14) 21:17 3 Tom Bunn (14) 21:54 4 Jonathan Stanforth (13) 22:00
21 7 Bournville Harriers [B] 1:31:21 – 1 Jon Mould (28) 22:14 2 Andrew Hoole (26) 23:35 3 Ben Dodd (22) 23:11 4 Joseph Phillips (21) 22:21
29 8 Bournville Harriers [C] 1:37:03 – 1 Stewart Bond (36) 23:27 2 Ian MacKenzie (39) 26:16 3 Stuart Pearson (33) 22:57 4 Xenofon Gogouvitis (29) 24:23
44 9 Bournville Harriers [D] 1:52:57 – 1 Stewart Crowton (54) 28:43 2 Kevin Peace (52) 29:24 3 Tim Hodges (47) 26:15 4 Richard Shearing (44) 28:35
Masters Men
5 71 Bournville Harriers 1:29:47 – 1 Iain Jones (7) 22:00 2 Kevin Morris (4) 21:40 3 Sean Rose (4) 23:27 4 Grant Whigham (5) 22:40
Senior Women
10 204 Bournville Harriers [A] 1:15:59 – 1 Maeve Kenny (12) 24:56 2 Lorna Almond (11) 26:25 3 Rhian Littlewood (10) 24:38 3
20 205 Bournville Harriers [B] 1:26:42 – 1 Victoria Read (20) 26:39 2 Charlie Hurd (23) 32:01 3 Victoria Hughes (6) 25:14 3 Sarah Rock-Webster (20) 28:02
31 206 Bournville Harriers [C] 1:45:53 – 1 Linda Howell (40) 35:26 2 Suzanne Bunn (33) 37:48 3 Nicola Tautscher (31) 32:39
38 207 Bournville Harriers [D] 2:08:10 – 1 Linda Goulding (42) 41:59 2 Claire Daniels (39) 45:35 3 Lesley Pymm (38) 40:36
Masters Women
5 263 Bournville Harriers [A] 1:15:27 -1 Alison Price (11) 25:45 2 Monica Baptista (7) 24:59 3 Lorna Al-Ani (5) 24:43
11 264 Bournville Harriers [B] 1:26:09 – 1 Jo Green (14) 28:19 2 Jude Glynn (14) 28:52 3 Mathilde Housley (11) 28:58
14 265 Bournville Harriers [C] 1:30:30 – 1 Emma Whigham (15) 28:37 2 Helen McGettrick (15) 29:55 3 Pauline Wright (14) 31:58
Onto the second race of the season and this time it was for the Masters (over 35s) only over in Long Eaton, Nottingham.
British Masters Open XC Relay Championships, 26th October
In cold, wet, muddy and windy conditions, the second race of the season took our Masters athletes to Long Eaton for the BMAF relays. Yet again the teams showed the strength in depth of our teams at this level. Well done to all who took part on the day. There were superb individual and team performances with Monica Baptista‘s 13:08 the fastest leg for BvH women; along with Laura Gale and Alison Price the W35 ‘A’ team finished 6th overall. Not to be outdone in the house honours, Mat Pollard was not only fastest male BvHer on the day but also had the 7th fastest of all legs (10:26) and, with team-mates Richard Keep, Iain Jones, Stephen Forcer and Sean Rose also took the 6th overall position and Bronze medals as the third-placed Midlands Team; Congratulations!
The results were as follows:
Masters Women v35
6 Bournville Harriers ‘A’ 41:06 – 1 Monica Baptista (7) 13:08 2 Laura Gale (7) 14:16 3 Alison Price (6) 13:42
12 Bournville Harriers ‘B’ 45:19 – 1 Laura Leslie (14) 14:42 2 Jo Green (15) 15:19 3 Charlie Hurd (12) 15:18
18 Bournville Harriers ‘C’ 48:50 – 1 Helen Mcgettrick (20) 15:58 2 Jude Glynn (19) 15:42 3 Suz West (18) 17:10
Masters Women v45
14 Bournville Harriers W45 54:35 – 1 Sam Pretlove (12) 15:29 2 Lesley Pymm (14) 21:51 3 Nicola Tautscher (14) 17:15
Masters Men v35
6 Bournville Harriers M35 57:51 – 1 Matthew Pollard (2) 10:26 2 Richard Keep (3) 11:10 3 Iain Jones (4) 11:39 4 Stephen Forcer (4) 12:06 5 Sean Rose (6) 12:30
Forthcoming Races:
There are National XC Relays on 2nd November in Mansfield and the 5&7 Mile XC Championships on 16th November in Halesowen. The exciting League Races begin with Race 1 on 9th November and with both teams newly installed in Division One it’s important to get a great start so make sure you have the dates in your diary (visit the Cross Country page for more details). Cross Country races are open to all abilities and places are paid for from club subscriptions. We also need to provide a volunteer for all the league races and supporters are always welcome, so even if you are unable to run, there’s an opportunity to get involved.