13th January 2007	BIRMINGHAM CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE- COVENTRY
	Stoke AC's junior athletes continue to show that they are making a positive progression into the senior ranks with great runs in the 3rd Birmingham League Division 1 fixture at Coventry. On Thursday evening the number of Stoke AC athletes out with colds and injuries made it seem as if I might have to run myself, but most of the guys recovered in the nick of time, and team manager Steve Shubotham even hired a mini-bus for the first time in a few years to celebrate having 9 athletes out! 17 year old Damion Gallagher led the way with a typically committed effort which saw him as high as 28th at one stage. A top 30 placing could be on the cards at the next fixture. Most improved athlete of the day award must go to another U20 Carl Shubotham who shot past Brian Cole in the final 100 yards of the race. Carl's excellent finishing position of 43rd was probably his best cross country run for a few years, and hints again at the potential to be a top runner at this level.  Brian Cole has had a heavy racing and training schedule over the last couple of weeks and took the first couple of laps easy as a training session. He then accelerated over the last lap, but Carl hung on brilliantly and then used his track speed to great effect in the finishing straight. In 54th another U20, Alex Hall, showed that he is slowly coming back into better form after a first term at Durham University, and I am sure we will see a big improvement from Alex later this year once his training has become more consistent in his new environment. Steve Bazell is another Stoke athlete who seems to have had more than his fair share of colds this winter. Now healthy, but not quite as fit as he would like to be, Steve will also improve rapidly over the next month. Stev did improve on his Gloucester result to finish strongly in 67th. Just behind Steve, Gavin Walters showed great commitment after a difficult couple of weeks with a foot injury (hopefully now resolved). Once Gavin is able to train consistently again we will quickly see a return to the form that he showed at the last North Staffs League fixture at Leek. Mark Kinch was supposed to be resting up this weekend ready for the Midland Masters championships next week-end, but stepped in at the last moment to support the team. Again he pulled through strongly on the last lap. Mark is due a really strong race in the next couple of months, so let's hope it is next week!  Last finisher for the team, but certainly not the least, Ian Milner showed a strong return after a difficult couple of months following a car-crash. There are no joggers in Division one, and Ian looked good and professed himself very pleased with his effort. A top 100 finish would have definitely been on the cards with some longer spikes! Danny Barker had to drop out through a shin injury whilst running a strong race. I had similar problems at Danny's age and recovered to run pretty well in my early 20s, so I am certain that Danny can return stronger in the next couple of months.  This result gave us our highest Birmingham League team finish of the winter so far, and although no teams can be relegated this year, we moved even further away from the bottom 3 teams. John Danahay Full results at www.birminghamccleague.co.uk
	Stoke results: 38. Damion Gallagher (U20) 43. Carl Shubotham (U20) 44. Brian Cole 54. Alex Hall (U20) 67. Steve Bazell 73. Gavin Walters 77. Mark Kinch (M40) 113. Ian Milner	8th Team - 319 points - 10th overall 31.41 32.01 32.03 32.44 33.14 33.33 33.51 36.11