With individual and team titles at stake, Stoke AC athletes were front
runners in every male race on the hilly course at Westwood High School.
In the U11 boys Logan Brough came through strongly for 3rd to take an
excellent second place overall in the league. The U11 team of Logan, Gregory
Smalley and Mathew Shaughnessy also captured the team silver
medals.
The U13 boys was a particularly exciting race with Mark Shallcross
building up a big lead, losing it on the final big hill, getting it back at
the top and then finally losing out in a 3 way sprint for the line when mis-directed
by the race marshalls. Team-mate Jake Guest kept in touch and showed
a lot of racing skill to take victory in the final few metres. Jack Ross
also ran his best race of the season and came within a point of overall 3rd
place in the league. The team duly picked up the league title.
Unfortunately none of the U15 boys or the team was in contention for a league placing
due to a clash with a schools match on the same day as the third race at Stafford, and this may have affected their motivation for this final
race. However the lads packed well behind 3rd placed Jake Hart for
2nd on the day behind a strong Staffs Moorlands squad. Newcomer Dave
Clarke is also starting to improve rapidly and with Josh Kinch
and Rob Cooke close behind the core of a good team is beginning to
appear.
In the U17 men Alex Derricott yet again dominated throughout, but
this time Damian Gallagher had to settle for third. Showing excellent
consistency over the whole season they also finished 1st and 2nd in the
league overall.
Due to more problems with colds and injury the winning senior men's team nearly didn't
start with 6 men. Fortunately my jeans
concealed my shorts, and with Adrian Thiemicke also making sure that
we had a little leeway in case someone else dropped out mid-race, we wrapped up our third
successive team title with points to spare. Andy Allen finally
returned back to better form with a great fourth place. Mark Kinch
also showed an excellent recovery from the previous week for sixth and Alex
Hall yet again belied his youth to finish a fine seventh. As for me, on
the first lap I felt great, on the second lap I felt okay and on the third
lap I knew Steve and I should have rang a few more people to get them out! In any case
18th was pretty good in the circumstances... Paul Hodgkinson really
wanted the team title and it showed. When I went past he looked spent but
rallied extremely well for 23rd. Ian Milner worked his way steadily
through the field and finished with plenty of confidence - he is definitely
on the way up again. Adrian Thiemicke amazes me - after 8 weeks of virtually no
running at all he still got home well within the top half of the field!
This was also a great result for Steve Shubotham in his first winter
of team management and coaching. Other members of his rapidly improving
squad also gained individual medals. Carl Shubotham and Danny
Barker, running for Staffs University were 2nd and 3rd in the U20s, and
Stoke AC Track & Field member Steve Bazell running for Trentham was
2nd overall in the senior men in his best season for 3 years.
However possibly the man of the season has to be Richard Barrington
who really saved the team title bacon at Wye Road!
John Danahay
Steve Shubotham's photos
Brian
Dale's Race Photos
If you know of Stoke AC athletes I've missed let me know jdanahay@freeuk.com
North Staffs Cross Country League Website: www.nsccl.co.uk
U11 Boys
- Team 2nd - 25 points
3. Logan Brough
? Gregory Smalley
? Matt Shaughnessy
U13 Boys
- Team 1st - 11 points
1. Jake Guest
2. Mark Shallcross
8. Jack Ross
11. Tom Weston
22. Luke Kinch
U15 Boys
- Team 2nd - 15 points
3. Jake Hart
5. Dave Clarke
7. Josh Kinch
9. Rob Cooke
19. Lee Migliaccio
U17 Men
1. Alex Derricott
3. Damian Gallagher
13. Mike Shallcross
Senior Men
- Team 1st - 88 points
4. Andy Allen
6. Mark Kinch (M40)
7. Alex Hall (U20)
18. John Danahay (M40)
23. Paul Hodgkinson
30. Ian Milner
74. Adrian Thiemicke (M40) |
Team 2nd overall
2nd overall
Team 1st overall
11.02
11.03
11.43 - 4th overall
12.05
13.32
15.18
15.54
16.03
16.10
18.22
17.19 - 1st overall
18.06 - 2nd overall
23.20
Team 1st overall
27.13
27.28 - 3rd overall and 1st Vet O40
27.34
29.41
30.12
30.52
34.39
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