Shropshire Young Athletes Cross Country League

Telford takes Cross Country Honours.

Telford Athletic Club secured the 2009 Shropshire Young Athletes League title by winning both the boys and girls titles at Oldbury Wells Schools Bridgnorth. But it was encouraging to see the resurgence of some of the smaller teams in the county.

In the individual championships it is only three of the four races which count and several athletes had won two races but missed one of the fixtures. In all cases it was these athletes that proved themselves over the tough hilly course. Hattie Jones of Ludlow Runners secured the Under 11 title by running away form the field from the gun to finish fourteen seconds ahead of Katherine Price of Shrewsbury AC with Hannah Price of Oswestry Olympians third. This was also the way the overall medals went. In the team race Oswestry clinched the gold medals by just ten points over the season from Telford with Bridgnorth taking the bronze.

The Under 13 girls’ race was dominated again by Isabel Bradley of Telford who as a result took the title with Emma Clarke, second in the final race and the silver medallist overall. Molly Brown came third in this race but the overall bronze went to Sarah Williams of the Newtown based Maldwyn Harriers. The Welsh club performed well at each fixture to collect the league title from Oswestry with Telford taking the third position.


The most competitive races this year seemed to be in the Under 15 girls’ age group with the lead constantly changing hands through the season. The hills seemed to favour Daisy Tickner from Oswestry and she opened up a 16 second lead on the hill on the last lap from Megan Turner of Aberystwyth. Her namesake Megan Turner of Ludlow Runners had the finish officials thinking they had made a mistake but after a slow start to the season she proved that she is improving with every race. It was the Aberystwyth Megan who took the overall gold from Tickner, having performed most consistently throughout the season, with Zoe Partridge of Wenlock Olympians finishing fourth on the day to clinch the bronze form her twin sister Amy. Telford had a stranglehold on this age group throughout the season and they confirmed their favourite status by winning the team gold with Oswestry taking the silver in front of Maldwyn Harriers.

In the Under 17 girls’ category Harriet Grandfield had missed the Oswestry race but was another runner to convincingly take the overall title running away from the rest of the field to win by nineteen seconds from Ella Walker of Oswestry. Ella had already missed two races so the minor places were up for grabs and it was Telford’s ever consistent Chloe Murphy who finished fourth but clinched the silver. Chloe Barton from Oswestry had run strongly to finish third and also took the individual bronze. It was Telford who just scraped home in the team competition from Oswestry by just six points over the four race series.

In the Under 17 boys’ three runners had been involved in a great tactical battle in each of the four races. Guy Gregory from Ludlow Runners had already clinched the league title with three wins in the earlier races but wanted to remain unbeaten through the season. Another of the three, Ryan Heath did not run as he had been ill in the week and this left an opening for Guy’s Ludlow teammate Russell Adams. Guy used his trademark sprint finish to take first place but Russell’s second clinched the league silver. Both runners finished four minutes ahead of the third place runner over the 5000m course. Not surprisingly these two athletes helped Ludlow take the team honours from Telford.

In the Under 15 boys’ Joe Morris of Oswestry had won the two races he had run earlier in the series but still had to confirm his favourite status. He did this by winning again from his main rival, and eventual silver medallist, Haydn Gleave representing Wrekin College. Ben Ashcroft of Shrewsbury looked secure in third and took the league bronze. Ben collected his second bronze of the day when Shrewsbury took the third team spot but it was Telford who took the title form Oswestry.

Telford just managed to hang on to the team award in the Under 13 boys’ with a great team performance from Wenlock Olympians who took silver medal position with Oswestry taking bronze. It was in this age group that the biggest upset occurred. Jack Forrester continued his improvement to win the race and the league title. His Telford team mate Alex Burrows had won the first two races but had to settle for fourth on the Bridgnorth hills and so took the overall silver with James Morris of Oswestry taking the bronze.

Alex has another year in this age group and he will be keen to win next year but he will not have it all his own way as the Under 11 title has been won by a very talented runner, Freddie Fielding also of Telford. The hills didn’t seem to slow him at all and he ran way from the field by an amazing 49 seconds on the 1600m course. Second on the day was Charlie Mooney of Oswestry but Charlie had to settle for fourth overall with two Maldwyn Harriers taking the silver and bronze medals, Will Evans and Joseph Crutchley. Freddie’s runs helped Telford to take the team gold from Oswestry and Maldwyn Harriers who were second and third respectively.

Colin Lancaster