8th October 2005	NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE - APEDALE
	A good turn-out and some outstanding performances saw City of Stoke boys and men's teams dominate the first North Staffs Cross Country fixture at an extremely wet Apedale Country Park. In the girls races Stoke were less well represented but Kirsty Batson ran particularly well for 7th in the U13s.  In the youngest boys age group Logan Brough led from the start and brilliantly won his 1st race at this level with also a surprise win in the team event. The U13s packed 4 of the top 5 finishers in a close race where the improving Jake Guest eventually came out on top. Special mention should be made of the in-form Michael Harding who completed the course in 5th after a bad fall whilst in the lead. This is going to be a very interesting race next time out!  In the U15s Jake Hart seems to have began the transition to the higher age-group well as he also led home the team to equal 1st. In the U17 men the top local rivals are from the same club! Alex Derricott survived poor directions from a marshall to lead home Damian Gallagher and yet again the team came home 1st.  After this set of results the senior men (as defending champions) could only run one way. After 1 lap of the 10k course top junior Alex Hall was in 3rd not far behind the eventual winner Phil Bradshaw from Newcastle AC. Andy Allen and O/40 leader Mark Kinch were also in the top 10 at this stage. By the end of the 2nd lap Alex was still 3rd but Mark passed Andy up into 4th. On the last lap Mark overtook Alex to finish an amazing 3rd just a year after finishing 62nd at Wye Road! Alex hung on gamely to earn a great 4th spot and Andy Allen showed his experience to get 7th. Gavin Walters ran perhaps his best cross country race to finish 11th whilst a not yet fit Tom Gayle dusted the cobwebs off with 13th. However perhaps the surprise performance of the day came from Paul Hodgkinson in 23rd. Paul's middle name could be 'injury' and this was an outstanding effort after a 2 year break. The team scored 61 points, more than 140 ahead of closest rivals Newcastle.  John Danahay North Staffs Cross Country League Website: www.nsccl.co.uk U11 Girls 12. Charlotte Broome  13. Melissa Harding  U13 Girls 7. Kirsty Batson 14. Chloe Lloyd U11 Boys - Team 15 points - 1st 1. Logan Brough 4. Richard King? 15. Matt Shaughnessy U13 Boys - Team 6 points - 1st 1. Jake Guest 2. Mark Shallcross 3. Joe Broome 5. Michael Harding 11. Jack Ross 14. Jon Bentley U15 Boys - Team 15 points - 1st equal 3. Jake Hart 4. Rob Cook 8. Josh Kinch 9. Sam Hart 14. Matt Scragg 20. Dave Clark U17 Men - Team 14 points - 1st 1. Alex Derricott 2. Damian Gallagher 11. Nathan Dring 15. Matt Shallcross Junior, Senior Men & Vets - Team 61 points - 1st 3. Mark Kinch (O40) 4. Alex Hall (U20) 7. Andy Allen 11. Gavin Walters 13. Tom Gayle 23. Paul Hodgkinson 46. Adrian Thiemicke (O40) 63. Rob Rhodes 8.34 8.36 9.31 10.08 8.20 9.24 10.58 11.50 11.57 12.00 12.27 12.58 13.01 13.11 13.14 13.35 13.37 14.12 14.28 17.04 17.16 20.34 22.33 37.47 37.53 38.37 39.03 39.16 41.54 44.12 45.46