3rd December 2005	BIRMINGHAM CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE- GLOUCESTER
	Despite some members of the team suffering from colds (or the after-effects of), Stoke AC men produced another gritty performance on the dead flat and fast course at Gloucester - a complete contrast to Senneleys Park.  The change of terrain did not stop the team's top two from repeating their excellent performances from that race a month earlier. 17 year old Alex Hall went hard from the gun with a placing just inside the top 20 after a mile of the 6 mile course. Pete Benyon and Andy Allen followed closely behind, just outside the top 30. Mark Kinch and Gavin Walters were also placed well within the top 50 at this stage and things looked good for a repeat of the opening fixture's 4th place team performance.  Alex pressed on, always within the top 30, but Pete managed to close within 20 yards with a mile to go. Andy Allen, another recovering from a cold, still did not have quite the legs to hold on and started to slip back to the mid 40s. Unfortunately, Mark Kinch was suffering even more from the same problem, and with a completely out of sorts Gavin Walters began to fall back down the field quickly.  However, another 17 year old; Liam Jones, was the surprise package on this occasion. Outside the top 120 after a mile, Liam started to move smoothly through the field. With a mile to go he reeled in first Mark, and then Gavin.  Over the last 100 metres of the race Pete finally managed to get past the superbly gutsy Alex and exactly match his placing from a month earlier. These two were also the first local finishers, just ahead of super vet Dave Hollins from Staffs Moorlands and former team-mate Andy Prophett now running for Cheltenham.  Incidentally this was Andy's 50th consecutive race in Division 1 (48 of them for us) - a fantastic achievement for one of the most committed and friendly athletes around (he still competes for us in the BAL in the summer as well). Andy Allen was our next finisher in 47th, with Liam Jones eventually finishing an outstanding 81st on his Birmingham League debut. Behind him, Gavin Walters dug in for 86th and Mark Kinch also made the top 100 despite "feeling like dropping out" all the way round. Another not enjoying the course at all was Paul Hodgkinson returning after a calf injury, but making sure the team were safe with his 121st place. Behind him M60 Richard Barrington again completed our typically small but committed team. The final team position was 9th on the day leaving us in 6th overall, but I am sure with Tom Gayle back (twisted ankle), everyone's colds sorted plus two or 3 missing athletes we should improve considerably on this result at Coventry in 5 weeks time. John Danahay Photo Gallery - courtesy of Steve Shubotham Full results at www.birminghamccleague.co.uk
	Final results: 29. Pete Benyon 30. Alex Hall (U20) 47. Andy Allen 81. Liam Jones (U20) 86. Gavin Walters 95. Mark Kinch (M40) 121. Paul Hodgkinson 169. Richard Barrington (M60) Team scores: 1. Tipton 2. Birmingham Uni 3. Loughborough Uni 4. Coventry 5. Cheltenham 6. Telford 7. OWLS 8. Leamington 9. City of Stoke 10. Halesowen 11. Kidd & Stourport 12. Severn 13. Staffs Moorlands Overall positions after 2 races: 1. Birmingham Uni 2. Loughborough Uni 3. Tipton 4. Cheltenham 5. Coventry 6. City of Stoke 7. OWLS 8. Telford 9. Severn 10. Halesowen 11. Leamington 12. Kidd & Stourport 13. Staffs Moorlands	32.42 32.43 33.19 34.37 34.48 35.11 36.47 43.22 86 110 112 179 199 294 309 341 368 382 405 441 636 169 185 208 460 465 618 677 722 764 781 790 856 1006