Birmingham & District Invitation Cross Country League. Division 3 Race 3
Hosted by Aldridge RC & City of Birmingham Striders.
This was the closest venue to home of the season, so we expected a good turn out and that’s what we got! 13 runners for the men and 6 for the ladies with David and Leah volunteering and John supporting, shouting our positions as we passed.
The course consisted of two laps for the Women (approx. 3.8 miles) and three for the men (approx. 5.8 miles), The start of the course was downhill, climbing back in the second half with a uphill finish in the smaller field. The course was suitable for spikes.
It was largely on grass, which in recent weeks had been very muddy/boggy on the path through the woods about 1 mile in. On the day this path was ankle deep in mud and slush getting wetter and deeper after each lap! When you did finally exit the woods, you were met with a freezing cross wind all along the top of the course before looping the smaller field and back to the start of the next lap.
The consensus amongst the team was that this was the toughest one yet, I think we’re lucky as it wasn’t raining!
We had no injuries to report although Rob Mann did slip before the race had even stated mudding his posterior and hurting his pride. I’m also sorry to report that we have to say goodbye to the gazebo that succumbed to a strong gust of wind, luckily no one was hurt. We weren’t alone in having a tent upended, the First aid tent didn’t want to be left out and decided to join the woman’s race, colliding with one woman in the process! Fortunately, she was ok, and I wouldn’t have liked to see the accident report, “hit by a flying first aid tent!”
The men had the strongest squad available with Ryan (12th) and Oli (19th) battling it out up front, there is certainly some healthy competition between them, and they are 9th and 10th respectively in the overall standings. Ben (57th) and Mark (76th) both found the conditions challenging dropping a few places compared to the first race but not enough to affect our team position of 10th so far and a superb 5th on the day! Daniel (79th) had another good run and I found myself hanging on to his coat tails for the last lap, finishing a few places behind in 86th. A good indicator of a clubs progression is when it can field two teams, and that’s exactly what we did! With James(132nd), Steve (146th), Rob White (148th), Rob Mann (171st), Dom (219th), Dan (221st) and Chris (231st) each giving their all and finishing 7th in the B team category.
It was another fantastic day with a great team spirit, with the girls sharing the venue with us, (and for the next race in Coombe Abbey Park, Coventry) It would be sad if we ever did get promoted and had to bring our own Jaffa cakes! Well done to the girls again and I’ll post the results ASAP.
Looking forward you have until the 20th of this month to decide if you would like to run in the nationals on the 25th of February. Should be fun!
See you all at training on Wednesday.
Karl.
West Bromwich Harriers 