National Cross Country Championships
Cofton Park, Birmingham. Sat. 19th Feb. 2005
Race Report.
The annual begging phone calls to get a team out for this event were no different
from usual but, for the first time since we won the silver medal 4 years ago at Durham, a team
was assembled. It was also a pleasure to be at an event where we had runners in virtually all age
groups.
The park was brilliant, the organisation excellent, 451 runners completed the ladies
race, and the weather a bit nippy!
The Race,
I have to mention Hayley Yelling's unremitting grip on xc in the UK at the
moment shows no sign of diminishing and she won in some style, however,
Cath Mijovic was determined that in her own
"back yard" it was going to be a memorable day and so it turned out, on a course she's
trained on for years she went off hard and maintained the pace throughout giving her arch rival Sue
Wint a severe lesson in distance running. After scrutinising the results it is also clear that she
was first in her age group.
She also led our team home in 84th.
Juliette Oldfield, I kid you not, flew back from holland at
9:30 pm on Friday night. Drove down from Newcastle on the morning of the race, took her dog for a
run round the course then raced and finished a 100th in the race.
Rachel Cook, benefited massively from a pause in her work
load due to Half term and returned home from a holiday to have one of her best runs for some time to
finish 120th.
Tabbi Sloper, one of my team rescuers ran considerably over distance for the training
she's doing to complete the team scoring in 235th showing a glimpse of what could be achieved with a
regular training schedule.
Pam Rayment, the other team rescuer, also on limited
training, while being an integral part of Keith Holt's coaching team looking after a huge group
of promising youngsters, completed the demanding course in fine style.
Team Result 18th.
Under 20 Women
Becky Sanders and Faye Manger,
What an asset to Birchfield, they've done virtually every xc race of the season and have been some
of the most prolific points scorer for the Club. This is from a pair of track runners! please take
note. It's such a pleasure to deal with two young athletes who actually want to take on the world
and win.
Becky Sanders improving again with each race had a storming
run in really tough competition finished a brilliant 11th.
Faye Manger, due to open her track season at the BUSA indoors
in Sheffield next week with an 800m, still managed to finish well in the top half of the field
with 51st .