Athletics
Golden performances

THERE were some impressive performances from Leamington C & AC athletes in the Warwickshire AA Cross Country Championships at Brueton Park, Solihull, on Saturday.

More than 50 C & AC runners lined-up in the series of races and they returned with a handful of medals.

Charlie Davis led the way by winning his first county title in the under 15 boys race, which followed a couple of second place finishes in previous years, while the under 20 women scooped a team gold medal thanks to the combined efforts of Faye Barr, Emma Fulcher, Cara Davison and Katherine Taylor.

Richard Harper was another C & AC medal winner after clocking 31-54 to finish third in the senior men’s race behind Phil Hinch (Tipton) 31-23 and Toby Spencer (Coventry Godiva) 31-43.

Tom Foulerton (34-22) was the next C & AC runner home in 20th ahead of Chris Bull (35-26) 34th, Craig Bower (38-12) 71st, Nick Tawney (38-28) 78th, Steve Roberts (41-01) 109th, Peter Taylor (42-37) 119th, Adrian Mawby (43-33) 132nd, Russ Burrows (43-45) 135th, Graham Garlick (44-14) 140th, Jason Burton (45-11) 152nd, Graham Roberts (45-24) 155th, Bert Payne (46-42) 162nd and Jonathan Wilkinson (49-12) 168th.

It was run in conjunction with the men’s veteran race which was won by Orlando Corea (Bournville) in 33.27.

Foulerton led the C & AC charge by finishing 7th ahead of Bower 31st, Tawney 35th, Steve Roberts 59th, Taylor 66th, Mawby 78th, Burrows 80th, Garlick 85th, Burton 95th, Graham Roberts 98th, Payne 105th and Wilkinson 109th.

Danielle Stewart (Coventry Godiva) won the senior women’s race in 22-03 from Amanda Deavey (Northbrook) 22-58 and Elanor Fowler (Nuneaton) 23-09.

Zara Blower enjoyed a fantastic run to finish 9th in the senior women’s race -in 23-53 which was a massive improvement on her previous performances in these championships.

She was followed by Susie Tawney (25-28) 25th, Jenny Jeeves (28-50) 54th, Janet Mee (29-38) 59th, Carol Blower (62nd) 30-14) and Claire Doughty (31-27) 66th.

The masters race was run alongside and Imogen Peace (Kenilworth) triumphed in 23-18 from Tawney 8th, Jeeves 26th, Mee 27th and Blower 30th.

Mallory English (Sphinx) won the under 20 women’s race in 20.15 but excellent packing by Faye Barr (22-41) 4th, Emma Fulcher (23-25) 5th, Cara Davison (25-36) 6th and Katherine Taylor (28-19) 7th won the team event.

Matthew Rose (Coventry Godiva) crossed the line first in the under 20 men’s race in 18-38, while the C & AC quartet of Guy Allen (20-11) 6th, Jimmy Bull (20-53), Matthew Bull (22-09) 14th and Chris Wood (22-41) 17th won a team silver medal.

The under 17 men’s race was won by Abdi Abdi (Birchfield) 19-38, while the C & AC trio of Callum Hanlon (20-47) 6th, George Loveday (22-51) and Michael Bastone (22-56) combined to finish fourth in the team event.

There was no C & AC representation in the under 17 women’s race which was won by Katie Ingle (Royal Sutton Coldfield) in 18-39.

Charlie Davis stormed to the gold medal in the under 15 boys race in 13-56, ahead of club-mates Jack Savage (15-00) 11th, Gabriel Higgins (15-36) 17th, Aaron Moorman (15-53) 23rd, Dean Mawby (16-31) 28th, Oliver White (16-47) 30th, James Potts (18-55) 39th and Freddie Loveday (21-20) 40th.

The efforst of Davis, Savage and Higgins saw C & AC win the team bronze medal.

Megan McDonald (15-33) bagged the silver medal in the under 15 girls race for the second successive year, finishing behind Sian Rainsley (Coventry Godiva) 14-53.

The other C & AC runners were Emily Baker (19-40) 24th and Rosa Buckley (20-08) 25th.

Dan Wilkinson picked up a bronze medal in the under 13 boys race after clocking 11-52 behind winner Tom Dodd (Birchfield) 11-13.

They were followed by Sam Wadsworth (12-23) 9th, Kieran Chahal (12-52) 14th, Alexander Ibbs (12-52) 17th, Tim Virr (13-02) 18th, Finley Wilde (13-08) 20th, Matt Woodhouse (13-10) 21st, Toby Loveday (13-29) 24th and Benjamin Illsley (14-57) 38th.

The efforts of Wilkinson, Wadsworth and Chahal won the team silver.

Isobel Davis (13-06) led C & AC home in the under 13 girls race by finishing 8th, ahead of Rebecca Lord (13-10) 9th, Asha Chakrabarti (14-04) 20th, Amy Aavage (15-06) 31st and Maddison Illsley (16-04) 39th. The race was won by Karys Amory (Birchfield) 12-11.

The championships are the main basis for selection for the county team competing in the UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships at Cofton Park, Birmingham on Saturday, March 10 and shown live on Sky Sports.