7th January 2006	BIRMINGHAM CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE- COVENTRY
	7th team on the day was an excellent result for a City of Stoke squad still suffering from more than its fair share of colds and injuries.  Pete Benyon continued his excellent running in this League, starting steadily and then catching the faster starting Alex Hall on the 2nd lap. It is easy to forget that Alex is only 17 because he just digs in so hard and another top 40 performance was a fine result in a race that everyone seemed to agree had more depth to it than the 2nd fixture at Gloucester. Tom Gayle also started very slowly after 5 weeks out with an ankle injury. Having spent the whole race moving through the field, 55th was an excellent result, and barring any more accidents a top 30 finish looks likely in the last fixture. Gavin Walters also showed the value of starting more conservatively with a much better result than at Gloucester. The team's other 17 year old, Liam Jones, also pulled through extremely well on the last lap and finished stronger than anyone else around him. With some consistent training between now and the last fixture at Cheltenham a top 70 finish beckons for Liam as well. Unfortunately Mark Kinch still seems to be suffering from the virus that hit his excellent form before Christmas. Mark put in a typically gritty performance to bring in our 6th counter in 105th, but this was 70 places down on his result at Senneleys Park.  Richard Barrington again made sure that we had a reserve finisher in case any of the main squad members dnf'd. Overall the team is still in a relatively healthy 7th position with 1 fixture to go. Hopefully we can turn out a better performance in the last fixture and finish the season in mid table - not too bad for a team who were favourites for relegation at the beginning of the season. However real progression will only come if we get more runners out. John Danahay Full results at www.birminghamccleague.co.uk
	Stoke results: 32. Pete Benyon 39. Alex Hall (U20) 55. Tom Gayle 66. Gavin Walters 85. Liam Jones (U20) 105. Mark Kinch (M40) 165. Richard Barrington (M60) Team scores: 1. Birmingham Uni 2. Loughborough Uni 2. Tipton 4. Telford.  5. Coventry 6. Cheltenham 7. City of Stoke 8. Leamington 9. OWLS 10. Kidd & Stourport 11. Halesowen 13. Staffs Moorlands 12. Severn Overall positions after 3 races: 1. Birmingham Uni 2. Loughborough Uni 3. Tipton 4. Coventry 5. Cheltenham 6. Telford 7 City of Stoke 8. OWLS 9. Leamington 10. Halesowen 11. Kidd & Stourport 12. Severn 13. Staffs Moorlands	29.36 29.58 30.40 31.01 31.54 32.42 39.00 61 87 113 215 240 292 382 398 406 413 449 473 513 230 272 321 705 752 937 1000 1083 1188 1230 1267 1277 1479