RUGBY & NORTHAMPTON WIN TO CLOSE THE GAP
The Athletics Club move closer to the top with a win in Sunday’s West Midlands meeting
Rugby & Northampton returned to winning ways in Sunday’s West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League meeting hosted by Birchfield Harriers at Perry Park, Birmingham.
Following narrow defeats in both of the opening two events of the campaign, R&N produced a stellar performance to win the meeting and narrow the gap at the top to Wolverhampton & Bilston. Topping the club’s results was a sweep of the under-11 categories.
All five of the U11 Boys team achieved finishes inside the top 20. Arthur Tilt led the club home in the previous two meetings – achieving a pair of runner-up places – and he maintained that streak on Sunday, crossing the line in second with a time of five minutes and 51 seconds. Meanwhile, in seventh and 11th, were Luke Turner (6:13) and Jenson Buttrick (6:19) respectively. Completing the team’s scoring was 18th-placed Finlay Grant (6:26), who was followed by Lewis Robson (6:27) one spot behind.
Over in the U11 Girls team, it was much of the same as Alice Bennett (6:35) led the team in third place, with Olivia Willison (6:45) next home in seventh. Following each other over the line in 12th, 13th and 14th were Caitlin Reeves (6:52), Jemima Lambert (6:53) and Amelia Cebak (6:54).
The club also claimed second place in the U15 Boys race despite missing the overall leader, Adam Caulfield. Ben Hope (11:26) happily filled the void left by Caulfield’s absence to be the first R&N athlete over the line in fourth. Within one second and one place of each other were Myles Martin (12:07) in 21st and 22nd-placed Cian James Cook Hutton (12:08), while Matthew Blomley (12:41) and Jake Louis (13:05) finished in 36th and 48th respectively.
The U15 Girls matched that of the Boys as Molly Williams’ (12:35) third place helped the team to a close second and helped her claim second spot in the overall standings. The other four scorers all finished within six places of each other as Holly Walker (13:21) crossed the line in 16th, Amelia McMurtrie (13:24) and Abigail Pearce (13:28) registered 18th and 19th place, while Lucy Stevens (13:37) finished in 21st.
Also claiming second was the U17 Men as the club’s dominance continued. R&N athletes hold three of the top five overall places, and all three were scorers in Birmingham. Adam Searle (16:25) leads the way and claimed his second victory of the season, while Joe Musgrove (17:02), fourth overall, completed the course in fifth and Matthew Chronicle (17:48) bolstered his fifth overall spot with a 14th-place finish.
Claudia Searle’s (10:02) fourth place helped the U13 Girls team to third in the age category. Following Searle was Olivia Williams (10:19) in 12th, 30th-placed Zoe Gardner (10:51), Alice Bates (10:57) in 36th and Mia Clark (10:58) two places further back.
The standout performer for the U13 Boys has been Louis Buttrick (9:21) and he continued his fine form to solidify his fifth overall spot with fifth in Sunday’s race. Two places adrift of Buttrick was Aidan O’Brien (9:38), Toby Buck (10:18) and Archie Shaw (10:22) claimed 31st and 33rd, while the team was rounded off by Jake Hope (10:29) in 41st.
Completing R&N’s involvement in the meeting was the sixth-placed U17 Women’s team. Amy Walker (16:31) ran well to claim fourth while Hollie Moore (19:06) and Olivia Sheehan (19:23) claimed 31st and 33rd respectively.
Next up on the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League schedule is a meeting on Sunday 15th January 2017 hosted by Rugby & Northampton at Abington Park, Northampton.
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