North Staffs XC D2 Champions

An elite squad of TAC runners went to Leek on a mission - that mission was promotion! 

Westwood High School: Leek
Race 4: Saturday 12 December 2009

TAC senior men were already quite a few points in the lead after 3 races in the North Staffs XC League. To win the division and secure promotion we had to have a minimum of 4 finishers! Not an easy task as the last fixture clashed with the Shropshire county Champs back in Telford.

However, a 'Die Hard' quintet  sacrificed glory in the County race and put their club first. Well done to Jamie Anderson, Marc Gadson, Johnny Sanders, Paul Williams and Alan Hodgkiss for running. Chris Talbot did a splendid job as Team Manager and race strategist, dragging his two young daughters all the way to Leek just to stand in a cold, muddy field :-) Chief in charge of TAC cheer leaders was Ian Beattie doing a cracking job of shouting on our quintet.

Paul Williams, Marc Gadson, Johnny (scarface) Sanders, Chris Talbot and Jamie Anderson.

Medal Scoop

Bryan Dale, photographer and runner was also at Leek. See his photos at http://www.racephotos.org.uk/

See also Mick Hall's photos

Full results will be on the North Staffs XC League web site at

I have fond memories of the last time I raced on this same XC course at Leek back in 2004. We were also fighting for promotion but with Telford Harriers. The Harriers did get promoted that year too. I also remember struggling to distribute only 4 medals amongst the large squad seen below.

Telford Harriers promotion back in 2004