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Scunthorpe Athletes join the country Elite
Report by Matt Hammond
5 Scunthorpe and district athletes were part of a 40 strong Humberside team that travelled to the 50th Boys and 42nd Girls Aviva ESAA English Schools' Cross Country Championship at Heaton Park, Manchester on Saturday 20th March 2010.
The event saw 1800 school children from 45 different counties as far apart as Cumbria and the Channel Islands descend on Heaton Park, for what is the largest cross country event of the year. Competing for your County Team can be a life-changing experience for children. For some, it is a stepping stone to future glory. But for many, it will be the pinnacle of achievement. Qualification started back in November when the athletes competed in the North Lincolnshire school trials at Central park. From there they then represented North Lincolnshire at the Humberside trials from which the Humberside team was picked.
Unfortunately after some mild weather of late the athletes travelled across the penines in pouring rain which never let up all day. Many of the uphill sections of the course which was set in the grounds of the historic Heaton HALL soon turned to mud. This coupled with the lashing rain made it into a true cross country race and a good test of strength and endurance.
The first Scunthorpe Athletes to test their ability were Elliott STONES and Kieran CONWAY. Elliott is following in his fathers footsteps as his dad Dougie was an outstanding junior athlete and came second one year in the English schools cross country finals, before going onto to claim senior international vests. Elliott who is still combining his running with football made an excellent start to the race and was up with the leading pack early on before eventually dropping back slightly to finish in 49th place. He was also the first finisher for Humberside gaining revenge on the athlete who narrowly beat him at the Humberside trials. This was an outstanding result for Elliott to be able to be ranked in the top 50 in the country. Should Elliott decided to make running his main event in the future it is thought he maybe able to match some of his dads achievements as he has one eye already of some of his dads long standing records. Also in the junior boys section was Kieran who has only been with the club this winter made a great start to his career qualifying for a national event at his first attempt. He will have learnt a lot about what is needed at this level finishing 252 (out of nearly 400 athletes) and was 5th Humberside athlete beating several runners who had finished in front of him at the trials.
Next up was another member of the Stones family, this time it was Elliott’s cousin Lewis. Like Elliott’s father, Lewis’s dad had also been a successful local athlete. Unfortunately Lewis’s bad luck this season was to strike again. Lewis had been in great form before Christmas before a shoulder injury playing rugby stalled his progress however a quick recovery saw him start to return to form in the last few weeks. But the mass start of nearly 400 athletes on a 40 yard long start line saw Lewis getting accidentally spiked by an opponent, this was just the start of Lewis’s problems when halfway round the two lap course he twisted his knee in the mud and had to pull out of the race. Hopefully Lewis will again be able to make a quick recovery and be able to transfer some form onto the track.
The final two athletes were both in the senior event for athletes at college. Bethan Hammond who attends North Lindsey College and Josh Reid who attends John Leggott have both been progressing throughout the cross country season and both were contesting their second national event of the season after they both ran at the Inter counties event in Birmingham. Josh had qualified for the finals last year whilst Bethan has competing in her very first English schools. Bethan who before joining Scunthorpe athletics club last winter had never qualified for the Humberside championships let alone any further has made excellent progress under Fiona FISK the club middle distance coach in the last 2 years. This saw her finish in 260th place and was 5th finisher for Humberside. Whilst Josh had a good finish in 230th and was the 6th Humberside finisher both have another year at college and will hopefully return next year and finish even higher up the field.
Bethan keeps up with the boys on the way to National Schools finals.
Weelsby Woods at Grimsby saw the annual running of the Humberside Schools cross country. The event was contested by teams from Hull, East Ridings, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire. Following their individual local championships each area brought a team of 12 athletes. The top 8 athletes in the older age groups are then selected to represent Humberside at the National English schools finals on the 20th March.
12 Scunthorpe Athletics club athletes had qualified to representing North Lincolnshire schools. Over what was to prove a true cross country course with athletes having to navigate a swollen stream and a very muddy ploughed field, but this was to prove to be the liking of many of the Scunthorpe athletes who are use to running around the woods at Quibell Park.
For once it was the male athletes who were to prove to be the stronger amongst the Scunthorpe and District representatives with some excellent results with only Bethan HAMMOND managing to match the boy’s performance and qualify for the Finals.
First on were the year 7 minor boys, which saw Ross EDGAR continue his good form over the country this winter and easily win the race. Unfortunately for ROSS there is no minor boy’s race at the national finals and he will have to wait for his chance next year to make his mark nationally.
Next saw the JUNIOR boys which covers school years 8,9 this proved to be a strong age group for Scunthorpe with Elliott STONES finishing in second place , Elliott had lead the race from the start and only a late stumble in the final straight cost him victory by the thickness of a vest. Next was Kieran CONWAY who finished in 9th place , this is Kieran’s first cross country season having only joined the club a few months ago and showed what quick progress he has made. The 3rd in for Scunthorpe was Jacob HAMMOND who put in the bravest performance of the day having decided to run on a foot injury in an attempt to qualify for the national finals. Jacob who had been in the first 5 for much of the race eventually had to limp in, in 13th place on an injury which was later in the week diagnosed as a pre stress fracture.
The Interboys Years 10,11 also saw 3 Scunthorpe club athletes representing North Lincolnshire, first home was Lewis STONES in 5th place , this was an excellent result as Lewis has only had 3 weeks back in training having suffered an injury playing rugby. Before the injury Lewis was showing good form over the country and hopefully by the time the finals come around he will be back to full fitness. Following Lewis in was Adam MIGDALSKI and Dale WILLIAMS in 20th and 28th place.
Josh REID and Arlen WILLIAMS were the representatives in the SENIOR BOYS race. A race that saw Josh take his excellent track form from last season onto the country course and with him finishing in 6th place, not far behind was Arlen who finished in 11th.
After the excellent results of the boys it was left to Bethan HAMMOND to do it for the girls.
Bethan who is also a student at North LINDSEY college had been the only representatives from the college at the Scunthorpe event will now represent the college Nationally at the English Schools finals following her 4th place. Bethan is an example of what can be achieved by training hard. She joined the club 2 years ago having never even managing to finish high enough at her previous schools Cross country event to qualify to run at the North Lincolnshire event. Last year she made the Humberside finals and ended up as a non travelling reserve. This year she has gone one further and is excited at the prospect of going to her first national finals.
The year 8, 9 junior girls saw Hannah DUNKERLEY continue to make progress in her first cross country season when she finished overall and was the 3rd finisher for the North Lincolnshire team. She is training alongside Bethan and hopefully over the next years will follow her progress.
The final Scunthorpe representative was Beth Edgar who had the heart ache of finishing in 12th place and will be a non travelling reserve for the finals. Beth had been in good form earlier in the year had suffered a couple of bouts of illness which had seen her struggling to maintain that form.
Bethan, Josh, Lewis, Elliott will be heading for the 50th English schools finals which this year will be run at Heaton Park, MANCHESTER on 20th March . The finals are expected to attract over 2,000 young athletes from 45 counties. Whilst Kieran, Jacob, Arlen and Beth wait to see if they get a chance, having been nominated as reserves.
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