R&N AC secure second successive victory to maintain their
winning start to the season
Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club picked up a second successive victory in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League thanks to a superb performance at Wolverhampton.
The club stretched their lead to 508 points over nearest rivals Wolverhampton & Bilston as they maintained their 100 per cent start after two rounds.
Adam Searle was the star of the show as he raced around the course in 10 minutes, 43 seconds to record a personal victory, giving his under-15 team-mates the perfect platform to build on to secure first place in the team competition. A score of 971 saw R&N take a dominant victory, with Joshua Lay (3rd, 11.01), Joe Musgrove (5th, 11.06), Tom Hughes (11th, 11:45) and Jack Carey (14th, 11.51) contributing to a team total that left R&N 78 points ahead of their closest competitors.
There was also success for the under-13 girls, as they secured a narrow 14-point victory over their nearest rivals Stratford-upon-Avon. Molly Williams (9.05) and Georgina Woodward (9.06) could hardly be separated as they finished fourth and fifth respectively, while Abigail Pearce and Holly Walker also crossed the line next to each other, in 17th and 18th respectively, with times of 9.37 and 9.38. Zoe Morling finished not long behind in 29th place with a time of 9.47, giving R&N a points tally of 932.
R&N’s under-11 boys earned a third first-place for the club when they piped Nuneaton Harriers by 29 points, thanks to a team total of 929. Noah Bennett set the pace; finishing fifth with a time of 5.40, while Louis Buttrick was just three places further back after completing the course in 5.44. Michael Corbett (13th), was just six seconds behind Buttrick whilst additional points came from Aidan O’Brien (6.07) and Jake Hope (6.08), who finished 24th and 26th respectively.
Grace Hughes (8th, 6.01), Claudia Searle (10th, 6.03), Zoe Helen Gardner (11th, 6.07), Xcena Pasqualin (25th, 6:35) and Maisie Cramp (28th, 6:37) led the under-11 girls team to second place with a total of 923, 54 short of a strong Wolverhampton & Bilston team, whose five scorers all finished in the top 12.
The under-15 girls total of 918 saw them net the same result, made up by scoring performances from Poppy Carmichael (8th, 12.34), Amy Walker (13th, 12.41), Hollie Moore (14th, 12.45), Charis Hayes (22nd, 13.04) and Olivia Sheehan (27th, 13.16). The under-13 boys were also runners-up, led by the in-form Adam Caulfield, who took individual second with a time of 7.52, just six seconds off the pace. Ben Hope (7th, 8:32), Edward Faulds (19th, 8:52), Cian Hutton (24th, 8.55) and Trystan Barnett (28th, 9.07) also contributed to the overall total of 925 points, 31 behind Birchfield.
Three finishers in the top nine wasn’t quite enough to propel R&N in to first in the under-17 women, where only the top three performances counted towards the team points total. Ella Rose Bromley finished fourth with a time of 16:01, ahead of Kirsty Goddard (8th, 16:27) and Emma Bond (9th, 16:28). Their total of 582 points saw them finish behind Birchfield Harriers, who took the first three places.
Birchfield also took the spoils in the under-17 men’s – an event that saw R&N settle for third. Jack Bond (17.01) and Ben Musgrove (17.14) both secured places in the top 10, finishing fifth and 10th respectively, while Oskar Potomski’s time of 18.17 earned him 24th place and gave the men a total of 564, just 30 points behind Birchfield and only two behind second-placed RSCAC.
R&N will be looking to make it three victories in a row when the competition continues on 7th December at Warley Woods in Smethwick.
