U13 Boys shine at Mansfield

P ick of some impressive running by Wirral athletes at the English Cross Country relays at Berry Park,

Mansfield was 5th place by the U13 Boys. Lead-off runner , Matthew Westby produced the fastest Wirral

time of 7m15.95s to finish 9th on a smoky first lap. Daniel Jarvis made up a place with 7m36.25s and Ben

McGee (7m30.25s) moved up to 5th, just losing a battle for 4th with Kingston-upon-Hull with the three lead-

ers well clear. The B team, helped by a first lap of 7m 25s from Richard Evans also had a fine run to finish

26th just 0.2sec behind the first B Team (Windsor Slough and Eton). It will be interesting to how this combi-

nation of depth and quality fares in the championships later in the season.

Also in the first ten were the U15 Boys led off by Max Jeffers (17th in 6m43s) with Liam Fryer (11th in

6m53s ) and Nick Jones (6m 39s) bringing them home 8th. Jamie Parker ran 6m 52s on the first stage for the

B team so they too have a capable fourth counter.

Best of the rest, was 13th by the U17 Girls team ( Jess Schofield, Clare Dickers and Nicole Haviland ) and

Hannah Tarver’s opening lap for the U15 Girls which saw her finish 8th.

Full results on the ECCA web site (englishcrosscountry.co.uk) under Relays/ Results At the Northern YA Road Relays in Croxteth Park in early October, pride of place went to the U15 Boys who picked

up the silver medals behind a strong Warrington trio. Nick Jones gave the team a solid start in 4th with what proved to

be the fastest time by a Wirral athlete. Max Jeffers moved them into the lead on lap two, but Sam Robinson, despite a

good run, was unable to hold off Warrington’s star athlete, Luke Johnson, who ran the fastest lap of the race. The U13

Boys, U17 Men and U17 Women all finished 5th to ensure a successful day for the club.

On the same weekend the Over 50 Men picked up the silver medals behind Oxford City at the British Masters Cross

Country Relays. Well placed after Kevin Buxton’s opening lap, Graham Ratcliffe, Paul Frodsham and Chris Henry

came home comfortably ahead of third place Barnet&District.

No 163 Oct/Nov 2008

Wirral A C Wirral A C Wirral A C Wirral A C Newsletter

Editor: L J Carroll

Merit Awards for 2008

The George Warburton Cup for the most outstanding track and field performance.

Chris Smith (800m, GB Team World Junior Champs)

Age group awards

Outstanding Athlete Shield for U11 Girls Sophie Tarver

Bill Taylor Shield for Under 11 Boys Tony Carscadden

The Hunt Shield for Under 13 Boys Joe Jones (200m)

The Hunt Shield for Under 13 Girls Katie Everson (Shot)

The Bill Weston Trophy for Under 15 Boys Micah Harty-Wint (LJ)

The Norman Waterson Plate for Under 15 Girls Sophie Money (100m)

The Walter Hinds Cup for U17 Men Sid Srinivas (400mH)

The Walter Hinds Bowl for U17 Women Eleanor Lewis (100m)

The Leo Carroll Shield for Junior/Senior Men Andy Boyd (100m)

The W F Bushell Cup for Jun/Sen Women Rebecca McLinden (400m)

The Wellock Shield Eleanor Meehan : The Gilbert Award Samantha Leahy

The Endeavour Vase Rachel Patterson : The Pat Carr Shield Shaun Egan

The Hercules Shield John Hunt : The Sportshall Cup Kristian Brown

The Frank Lathom Plate Margaret Milne

Special Awards

Kate Brick for representing England

Julie Money for representing GB Masters

The awards will be presented in the club room at the Gatehouse,

Oval Sports Centre, on Monday, Nov 24th ( 8pm ).

All members are encouraged to attend and support the winners .

Wirral (Ben McGee) and Kingston-upon-

Hull battle for 4th place at Mansfield

with 600m to go in the U13 Boys.

Club Vests

The official stockists of club vests are:

Runners Sport & Leisurewear

66, Bebington Road, New Ferry.

Vests : £13 ; Green shorts : £10.

They will deal by mail – 0151 644 8384

Coming soon…… Nov 8 L&D CC League Beacon Pk 3.00

Nov 9 Borders Road League Hoylake

Nov 29 Euro CC Trial Sefton Park

includes L&D League at 2pm

Dec 13 L&D CC League Stadt Moores

2.30pm

Dec 14 Borders Road League Buckley

Dec 26 Chester Walls

Jan 4 Borders Road League Colwyn Bay

Jan 10 Merseyside CC Champs Arrowe Pk

including Wirral AC Champs

for all age groups except Senior Men

Jan 18 Four Villages Half Helsby

Jan 24 Northern CC Champs Sherdley Pk

UK Cross Challenge, Sefton Park Those eligible to run in the Liverpool&District League

can take part in the Senior Mens race without entering,

though as usual they must collect a number from Ces

Barnes before the start (at 2pm, please note) Members

wishing to run in the other races must enter and pay the

entry fee. Details and forms can be found on the uka web-

site under Competition => uk Cross Challenge.

Borders League at Christleton The men had a comfortable win in the first round of

the Borders Road Running League over a 9.5km loop at

Christleton, placing their seven counters in the first 26 to

put the team on the top of Division 2. In fact with ten to

count we would easily have won Division 1, even without

the valuable assistance of some of the U17s

Xavier Desse led the team home in 3rd place, finishing

within 30 seconds of the Eryri Harriers pair of Rob Sam-

uel and Brendan Rothery. Veterans Peter Scarrett and

Graham Ratcliffe followed in 9th and 13th with Jon-Philip

Seymour and Shaun Egan in 16th and 22nd showing the

club’s strength in the U17 age group. Mark Hulmston

(25th) and Kelvin Dickinson (26th) completed the count

The Ladies took third place in Division 1 behind last

season’s champions, Tattenhall, and Buckley Runners.

Rebecca Hannah was first home in 10th, with Jess Scho-

field making a useful debut in 28th. Jane Fraser (32nd )

and Pippa Stott (36th) completed the count.

Athletic Shorts…. ♦ Kevin Buxton has been showing some form recently

winning the Hoylake 10k and taking the O50 award in

the Snowdonia Marathon. His time of 3hr0min59sec

for the 26+ miles round Snowdon was remarkable in

weather conditions described as horrendous.

Wirral AC Schools C C Races Our Annual Cross Country Races for Schools in Arrowe

Park produced several remarkable close battles in the team

races featuring local rivals St Anselm’s College and Calday

Grange Grammar School.

In the Under 15 Boys race, the team scores were equal, with

St Anselm’s winning the William Weston Cup based on the po-

sition of the last counter. They also provided the individual

winner in Liam Fryer who comfortably held off the Calday pair

of Jamie Parker and Nick Jones. Calday turned the tables in the

Under 18 Boys race with four in the first six to win the A G

Nicholson Memorial Trophy by 2 points. Jon Philip Seymour

(St Anselm’s) took a decisive lead early in the race and never

looked under pressure, with Ben Costello (Calday) a distant

second and Jamie Carragher (St Anselm’s) third.

The U13 Girls race saw another race settled by the position

of the last counter, Upton Hall School winning the HSBC

Shield in front of Canon Slade School from Bolton. Anna

Gordon (West Kirby High School) won by 8 seconds, with sis-

ter Miriam just holding off the leading Upton Hall counter,

Anna Fraine to take 2nd place. In the U15 Girls race, Katie

Duckers of Upton Hall was first across the line, but Canon

Slade easily won the F C Barnes Cup with their four counters

following her home.

The U12 Boys race for the Dave Shallcross Trophy saw St

Anselm’s beating Calday by just 1 point with Calday having

the consolation of the individual winner in Niall Flanagan.

Rebecca Hannah and Nicole Haviland led Upton Hall to a

win in the U18 Girls race with Jess Schofield in third place.

The U11 Boys race for the Dave Jeffs Cup was dominated

by St Mary’s Prep, with Jack Glashan (St Anselm’s Redcourt)

just holding off Morgan Feeney (St Mary’s) to win the indi-

vidual race. St Mary’s also took the U11 Girls team race

with Sophie Tarver of Thingwall Primary having a runaway

win.

Chris and Doug in the Frame

Chris Smith received an Excellent Achievement Award

at the OCWK presentation in October. As his coach,

Doug Hanna received a Coaching Achievement Award.

OCWK, in case you didn’t know, is an acronym for On

Camp with Kelly and here they are at the presentation

with the lady herself, Kelly Holmes, the double Olympic

Champion from Athens.