1st Birmingham League XC Fixture – 07.11.2015

As the heavy rain fell towards the end of last week, and particularly all of Saturday morning, we knew we were in for damp and muddy conditions for the first Birmingham League Cross Country fixture of the season. Would we have it any other way? Probably, given the opportunity, but it’s the same for everyone although how some of the chaps at the front of the division one field run quite that fast through mud seems to defy the laws of physics.

The ladies kindly started proceedings, testing the depth of the ditch (deep), and starting to churn the course for us, and returning mud splattered gave us a taste of what was to come (well done all by the way, and great turnout). Despite a few omissions from the Massey ranks, some to avoid injuries ahead of exciting and expensive trips to Las Vegas, some through injury, Massey men had a very impressive 28 runners attack the field, and all returned in one piece. Despite a quick blustery shower before the race, the sun came out and was in fact quite dazzling reflecting off the puddles and mud at certain stages. The level of support for Massey was phenomenal all around the course, and personally really helped me push on through some of the challenging spots such as the ditch, the beacon and the regular muddy inclines. Looking down the results below there was some great tussles and bunching by our runners, and no doubt some good sprint finishes with a couple of runners on the same times, and many within seconds of each other.

Massey Ferguson “A” finished a respectable 11th out of 17 teams, well ahead of our fellow promoted teams Black Pear and West Brom (although we know they have been depleted since last season). Stratford and Amazing Feet are within reach above us, then a big gap opens up, so we will need to work even harder at Cofton Park in December to consolidate a safe position in Division 2. We have some good runners to return, and many who can improve, including some who fought very hard and bravely through Illness and injury on Saturday. Well done to everyone who turned out and gave it their all, note your position and use that as a benchmark to improve from over the next 3 races, look at who was in front of you, who was breathing down your neck. And remember that your contribution was important, outside of the top 12 Massey runners we still had guys who beat top 6 counters from Gloucester, Newcastle, Black Pear and West Brom, all teams we need to beat to stay up. So train hard over the next few weeks, get the hills in, the off-road training, the stamina building long runs and make sure we push even harder at Cofton Park.

XC A team table

XC B team table

155 Dave Cubbitt 47:28
164 Gary Lawson 48:12
174 Richard Lapworth 49:07
178 Martin Judge 49:32
179 James Towey 49:46
181 Steve Mumford 49:54
185 Jamie Turner 50:00
187 Pete Paprcka 50:06
205 Martin Smith 52:31
215 Richard Sale 53:39
216 Nathan Bignall 53:40
220 Graham Patton 54:16
226 Ian O’Donnell 57:52
233 Daniel Connolly 68:11
235 Dave Phillips 71:45