The Staffs cross country championships took place on the 06 January at Sandwell Park Farm. Following on after the Christmas festivities this championship race shows those who have focussed on training over the Christmas break as opposed to the turkey and mince pies. Traditionally Stoke have fared well at these championships with many athletes securing selection to run for their county at the inter counties meeting in March. 2018 was no different and in contrast to our Facebook page I will report all results male and female.
Lets start with the women. No surprise that Kate Holt showed her outstanding class despite a period prior to Christmas with a severe cold. Finishing 2 minutes ahead of the nearest competitor Kate completed the course (stated distance is almost certainly wrong) in a time of 19:59 to secure the gold medal and her place as the top competitor in the Senior women’s Staffs team for the inter counties. The U17 women headed by Beth Sharpley returned with a silver team medal with a total of 34 points. Leading finisher in the U15 category was Abigail Jones finishing in 10th place supported by Maisie Tinwell (13) and Amy Condlyffe (19) to secure the bronze team medal with a total of 42 points. Our best hauls of medals came for the U13 team the majority of which are first year in this age group. Katie Williams ran powerfully to take individual silver medal closely followed by Aria Abberley-Barker taking the individual bronze medal with Niamh Bould in 5th place the team total pf 10 points made it a comfortable gold team medal from Tipton on 34 points. Medal haul for the women was 1 gold, 1silver 1 bronze individual and the same designation of team medals, 6 medals in total.
Results
U13 Girls U15 Girls U17 Women
2nd Katie Williams 10th Abigail Jones 8th Beth Sharpley
3rd Aria Abberley-Barker 13th Maisie Tinwell 11th Liz Stanyer
5th Niamh Bould 19th Amy Condylffe 15th Chloe Bradshaw
9th Libby Andrezejewski 20 Maddison Evans 16th Rebecca Hargreaves
13th Millie Holding
Senior Women
1st Kate Holt
24th Shelley Brace
Turning attention to the mens teams. Again no surprise in the senior mens race with Alex Brecker showing a clean pair of heels to take the individual gold medal and Will Neil taking bronze. With 6 counters in the top 20 the mens team were runaway winners for the team gold. in the smallest field of the day perhaps showing the fragility of cross country at this time in the U20 mens race (7 competitors) James Condlyffe took individual silver, no team medals were awarded. Jamie Arnold took the individual gold in the masters race finishing 7th in the race overall. Josh Lally returned with individual silver in the U17 mens race. Our U13 boys team secured a silver team medal led home by Gianni Loska who had a fine run to take individual gold.
Results
U13 Boys U15 Boys U17 Men U20 Men
1st Gianni Loska 15th Fynn Churton 2nd Josh Lally 2nd James Condlyffe
5th Bertie Ingram 25th Daniell Collins 8th Alex Maine 6th Jordan Thomas
13th Josh Wright 26th Jack Horton
14th Daniel Hilditch Team 5th
17th Aedan Cassell
18th Oliver Booth
25th Alfie Sheldon
28th Finn Richardson
Team 1st
Senior Men Masters
1st Alex Brecker 1st Jamie Arnold
3rd Will Neil 7th Steve Bazell
7th Jamie Arnold
8th Louis Wrigley
12th Carl Platt
Team 1st
Attention now turns to the Midland Cross Country championships on the 27th January at Wollaton Park Nottingham.
Congratulations to all who took part and good luck for the rest of the season.
Alan Morris