Stratford AC finish fifth at latest West Midlands Young Athletes’ Cross Country League round

DESPITE some fine individual performances, Stratford AC were left a little disappointed with their fifth-placed finish at the latest round of the West Midlands Young Athletes’ Cross Country League on Sunday.

The team left Aldersley stadium in Wolverhampton fourth in the overall standings with a total of 17,979 points, just 137 points behind third-placed Wolverhampton heading into the next round in Walsall on 16th January.

The U17W was the opening race and first home for the club was Charlotte Marshall (7th, 15:15) and she was followed by Ellie Deaner (21st, 16:59).

The U11B team were down on numbers but Henry Sims (33rd, 6:23) raced well to be first home for Stratford. Toby Spriggs (35th, 6:25) and Henry Thomas (60th, 6:59) completed the squad.

Alex Adams finished first in the U17M race in 15:23, 52 seconds ahead of his closest rival.

Theo Skirvin (17th, 17:25) and Caleb Spriggs (22nd, 17:46) both had steady races.

First home for Stratford in the U11G race was Stella Sant (16th, 6:24).

She was followed by Jasmine Mothershaw (32nd, 6:40), Amelie Marshall (34th, 6:41), Rachel Sparrow (38th, 6:52), Alice Richards (57th, 7:07) and Georgia Sharpe (64th, 7:12).

Zak Lambert (16th, 11:19) was first finisher for the U15B team, his highest finish of the season.

Following closely behind were Will Mayes (21st, 11:25) and Henry Wheeler (25th, 11:28).

James Day (37th, 11:53), Hugh Markham (40th, 12:03) and Gabriel Gaiser (42nd, 12:03) completed the team.

Marijke Tear-Verweij (8th, 9:13) had another great race in the U13G.

Annie Silvers (11th, 09:27) ran hard after being a little boxed in at the start while Lois Ford (38th, 10:25) and the returning Tessa Parkin (47th, 10:40) also finished.

The team performance of the day belonged to the U13B, with Aran Cooper (10th, 8:49), Samuel Plumb (11th, 8:50) and Joel Ledgard (12th, 8:54) all placing well.

Alfie Musk (30th, 9:28) and Arthur Mansbridge (37th, 9:45) finished a little lower down the order.

The final race of the day was the U15G where there were ten girls representing Stratford.

First home was Maisie-Joy Spriggs (2nd, 11:45). She was followed by Niamh Hillard (5th, 12:03), Maddie Linfoot (9th, 12:19), Caitlin Boyle (40th, 13:38), Emily Cottam (44th, 13:48), Abbi Cooper (46th, 13:51), Alice Cottam (49th, 13:55), Lucy Thomas (52nd, 14:08), Charlotte Skinner (55th, 14:12) and Tilly Campbell (60th,14:49).