Telford Athletic Club Blog

North Wales Cross Country League.

Claire Martin from Telford Athletic Club and Alison Lavender from Oswestry Olympians repeated their first and second placings in the second of this season's North Wales Cross Country League race at St David's College, Llandudno. On a tough, but interesting course that included woodland, rough pasture, the college gardens and playing fields, Claire was making her first appearance on this course whilst Alison won the equivalent race last season. The Telford AC athlete  who has been selected to represent England at the Home Countries Masters International in Dublin next month, aiming to retain her British title, crossed the line in 22.30, whilst Alison finished second in 22.30. Michelle Clarke from Leegomery was the second Telford AC runner home in 16th, 4th over 40 in 27.44. Nellie Sanders making her cross country debut of the season was 30th in 29.18 whilst Lisa Blagden 32nd in 29.27, out of 89 finishers, completed the Telford AC team that gave them victory in Division 2, with 47 points. They are now clear leaders after two races with just 86 pts with Bangor University second with 120 pts and Shrewsbury AC third with 212 pts. Telford AC were 3rd in the Masters team with 32 pts competition behind Eryri, but are 2nd overall just 4 points behind the Welsh Champions with Wrexham second on the day and 3rd overall, Shrewsbury AC were 7th on the day and are 8th overall, with Oswestry 9th but 7th overall.

Ryan Heath was Telford AC's first senior man to finish and the 3rd from Shropshire,  improving 2 places on his Bangor result in 19th, 4th under 20 in 36.30, just ahead of his club team mate Jamie Davies, 4 places higher than the first race 23rd, in 37.46. Dave Tatton equalled his 50th position from the opening fixture in 40.07 just 3 seconds ahead of his team mate Peter Plant 51st in 40.10 and the 5th over 50. John Garmson was the next Telford AC finisher 55th in 40.32. Matt Shenton from Hadley completed the scoring 6, finishing 71st, 41.49, only his second ever cross country race, he improved a massive 28 places from Bangor. Sam Garmson finished 74th in 42.16, Spencer Davies 84th in 43.05, Nigel Tatton 145th in 50.32 and Dave Davies 155th in 57.08.

Telford AC were 6th team on the day with 269 pts in Division 1, they have 502 points overall and are 4th. Eryri won the team race and are clear league leaders after 2 races. Meirionnydd ( 438 ) are 2nd overall with 3rd placed Deeside who have  495 points just 7 less than Telford. The Telford AC masters team were 7th at Llandudno but are 4th overall with 132 pts.

The next and 3rd league race of the season is at the usual Wrexham venue at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd. LL13 1RD on Saturday 24th November.

Paul Sanderson.