English National Cross Country Championships 2008

Athletes from all over the British Isles converged on Alton Towers for the National Cross Country Championships. The 2008 event, held in perfect weather conditions, was an extreme test of endurance with a challenging hilly course that was soft underfoot. The individual highlights of the day had to be the Parkes’ brothers, Anthony and Stephen, both finishing in the top 25 in their respective events. These were the best individual results for over 20 years and hopefully the family rivalry should produce exciting results for years to come.

Tamworth Athletic Club fielded its strongest team for many years in most age groups with the under 13 boys once again producing the best club performance ever in the National Championships. This was all the more remarkable as all the Under 13 boys and girls and most of the Under 15’s team were all newcomers to this prestigious and testing competition rounding off the cross country season.

Anthony Parkes and Kristian Edwards have had intense rivalry over the year with Anthony getting ever closer to Kristian and this time Anthony gained the upper hand with a superb 24^th place with Kristian strides behind in 29^th. To have two athletes in the club that rank in the top 30 endurance runners in the country is a remarkable feat but a team is not just two athletes and 9 other boys competed for the club. Oliver Smith was in his first National and finished in 93^rd and Ellis Cross who is only just 11 was only yards behind in 114^th. Ben Wright 135^th, Robert Stroud 136^th and Aidan Blythe 137^th were neck and neck for the whole 3km with the positions being decided on the line. Oliver Wood and Sam Greenbank both ran well to finish in 249^th and 263^rd respectively, while Josh Roughley 306^th, Zac Gray 314^th and Ricky Hawkes 317^th made up the Tamworth team.

The aggregate scores gave the team an overall position of 7^th just a handful of points outside the medals. This was the club’s best ever team score in a national cross country event . The boys, who should be very proud of their performance this year, beat clubs such as City of Norwich, Warrington, Shaftesbury/Barnet Harriers and were the first Midlands club to cross the line beating off local rivals Birchfield Harriers, Stoke AC, Coventry Godiva and Royal Sutton Coldfield.

The club hasn’t had an 13 Girls’ team for many years but 6 competitors turned out for the club and finished in 31^st place overall beating the city clubs of Sheffield and Manchester in the process. This is a very encouraging result and it is to be hoped that the team will stay together for some years to build on this. Corrine Blythe had a magnificent race with her 46^th deserved after a very aggressive run. Ellie Redfern 255^th and Beth Puffett 259^th were the next club runners both of them fighting it out until they crossed the finish line. Jasmine Oliver 333^rd, Elisha Freeman 356^th and Sam Brady 365^th found the course very difficult but completed the course and therefore ensured the club completed a team.

Lauren Mann was the club’s only entrant in the under 15 girls’ and her 188^th position was a just reward for working so hard this winter.

The under 15 boys had just 4 runners but still produced results that gave them a 22^nd place in the aggregate scores. Stephen Parkes was the first athlete home for the club in 25^th which is an exceptional performance in such a competitive age group. Luke Roughley who has been concentrating on the shorter distances found the course a little difficult and so finished in 171^st with Richard Mahoney 218^th just catching Jack Childs 219^th at the finish.

The under 17 men were 29^th overall and all athletes paid for a slow start when they found it impossible to overtake other athletes in such a congested field. Steve Deeley was 172^nd, Matt Wood 197^th, Sam Micklewright 197^th, Joe Saddington 219^th and Jacob Hughes 225^th. Hopefully this will be a good learning experience for them all in future years.

Unfortunately the older age groups failed to complete teams but all athletes who turned out for the club in these age groups should be congratulated. Simon King was 118^th in the under 20 men’s with Kat Snowden 111^th and Emily Field-Lucas 118^th in the under 20 ladies’ section. Elise Jinks prefers the more difficult courses and she will be pleased with her 157^th in the under 17 ladies’ whereas both Laura Lewis 181^st and Amy Williams 184^th found the course more testing.

The final race of the day was the senior men’s over 12k with over 2500 competitors entered. Martin Naunton’s 327 was the club’s best performance while Paul Tasker in 516^th got the better of Dave Williams in 522^nd. Steve Deegan usually likes hard courses but he struggled with the severe climbs to finish in 633^rd. Nigel Fisher should be pleased with his 816^th for his first attempt at a national championships.

The final cross country competition for the junior athletes in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League will be held on 2^nd March at Perry Park, Birmingham.

For more information on training and competition for cross country and track and field athletics contact Chris at tamworthac@aol.com .