Thank you and a big well done to the 27 Massey men who represented the club in the first fixture of the Birmingham League on Saturday. The majority of the team took a coach out from the Massey club just before midday, and I think everyone enjoyed the day out and a great chance to catch up with each other before the race, and at the pub later. It made a change to not be running at Newbold Comyn, but the Lilleshall course was familiar to most from last season with a near identical route, favourable conditions, and decent facilities.
Massey Ferguson had 3 debutants in the Birmingham League, with Alex Cotterill, Nick Huntley and Graham Tait making impressive starts with lots of room for improvement throughout the season. We also had a few familiar faces returning to the ranks after a couple of seasons away, and it was great to see Mick O’Shea, Pete Hall and Jack Blakemore back and also having strong runs. At the front, Dean, Simon Neale and Chris all carried great recent form on the road into the cross country season, backed up by excellent dependable form from John Hosie. It was also great to see a fit Gary Lawson back in the counters, and a certain Dave Clarke making up the top six after an injury plagued season last year. The B team packed well behind, with excellent debuts from Alex and Nick. All the way through the field there was some great bunching and working in groups: as always make a note of where you finished, who was around you and make sure you’re fighting to move up the field at the next race. We will need continued improvement from everyone to stay in Division 2 this year.
Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters who came on shouted us along, and a special mention must go to Daniel Connolly who had already spent most of the day helping set up the ladies race at Coundon Park, then dashed over to Telford with his family to set up a tent, get the numbers and co-ordinate the admin for the men’s team. He then ran the race, putting in the usual gutsy performance! Daniel does a huge amount of work for the club, and these events wouldn’t happen without the help of volunteers, many thanks for all your help, and your family’s!
Individual and team results are below, Massey A finished 11th, with the B team in 6th as usual! We were 2 points off 10th, and 4 from 12th with a bit of a gap above and below. This is a similar position to where we finished last season, but with quite a few more points which shows how the dynamic of the league has changed this year, and we are also without runners who were scoring in single numbers over the last 2 seasons. All to play for, and the next race is in less than 3 weeks at Stratford on 2nd December.
If you couldn’t make it Saturday, please try and make every effort to get along to the more local race in Stratford, we need as many men as possible to help us push back points from the other clubs and still have the ambition to get “40 for 40”. If you did run Saturday, I hope you had a great day out, running and socialising with friends, and will be keen to be back on the start line in 3 weeks. Stratford is a hilly course, so make sure you get plenty of hill training in over the next few weeks!
Many thanks
Ross – Men’s Captain
Individual Results
Pos Num Time
31 288 32:28 Dean Clarke A Team
86 298 34:24 John Hosie
90 312 34:36 Simon Neale
98 310 34:46 Chris Moore
103 303 34:57 Gary Lawson
109 287 35:15 Dave Clarke
113 290 35:22 Ross Cooper B Team
128 315 35:50 Michael O’Shea
142 292 36:10 Alex Cotterill
145 313 36:15 Jason Nicholson
158 285 36:31 Simon Brown
185 307 37:56 Nick Luntley
190 309 38:10 Alan McDougall
191 299 38:12 Tony Hoy
192 296 38:15 Pete Hall
207 321 38:56 Ian Redford
209 524 39:04 Jack Blakemore
226 304 40:22 Dave Lee
233 301 40:53 Martin Judge
234 328 40:55 Graham Tait
242 317 42:01 Peter Paprcka
250 327 42:44 Martin Smith
259 324 43:24 Dean Semple
264 314 44:05 Ian O’Donnell
281 318 48:34 Graham Patton
284 289 49:23 Daniel Connolly
288 320 62:26 Dave Phillips
Senior Men Team Results
A Team
1 Telford AC 3 6 7 9 10 24 59
2 Cannock&Stafford 1 5 16 17 30 44 113
3 Halesowen A&CC 15 26 27 32 39 43 182
4 Worcester AC 2 8 38 40 41 53 182
5 Bournville Harriers 11 28 42 46 50 54 231
6 Black Pear Joggers 12 22 33 49 65 82 263
7 Stratford upon Avon AC 18 34 48 51 59 71 281
8 Bromsgrove&Redditch 23 47 61 73 84 87 375
9 C.L.C. Striders RC 4 13 78 81 107 126 409
10 Dudley & Stourbridge Harriers 19 20 21 139 148 168 515
11 Massey Ferguson RC 31 86 90 98 103 109 517
12 Kings Heath Running Club 35 68 80 92 117 129 521
13 Spa Striders 60 79 88 111 114 151 603
14 Northbrook AC 67 91 104 116 121 125 624
15 Tamworth AC 14 36 89 130 176 182 627
16 Dudley Kingswinford RC 29 66 131 155 160 162 703
17 Gloucester AC 101 118 120 122 154 196 811
B Team
1 Telford AC 25 37 45 69 72 76 324
2 Worcester AC 56 57 62 77 93 100 445
3 Halesowen A&CC 55 63 64 74 96 97 449
4 Bournville Harriers 75 83 99 144 149 153 703
5 Bromsgrove&Redditch 94 108 112 119 136 140 709
6 Massey Ferguson RC 113 128 142 145 158 185 871
7 Stratford upon Avon AC 105 115 143 156 193 237 949
8 C.L.C. Striders RC 135 147 161 165 171 178 957
9 Northbrook AC 132 134 152 204 212 219 1053
10 Black Pear Joggers 137 159 166 179 198 228 1067
11 Kings Heath Running Club 141 170 195 197 205 221 1129
12 Spa Striders 180 187 194 200 201 213 1175
13 Dudley Kingswinford RC 177 203 210 223 225 227 1265