Charlotte Buckley third fastest Under 17 in South of England CC relays
Although Charlotte Buckley led the first lap home in the Under 17 Women’s Relay it was hard to notice as she was behind Under 20 women racing with her. The TVH women eventually dropped back to 9th place in their race. Amelia Casey was the target for the other teams to catch and she was passed by eight clubs during the 2.5k lap. Then Lily Cheshire ran a brilliant last lap to bring the team home with her best run or the season.
Having Melina Duer back in the ‘A’ team made a tremendous difference to the under 15 Girls. After Philippine Poupart-Lafarge looked to be way down the field on the first lap in 29th place, but she had been up against some good opposition. Niamh then improved 10 places with the fastest club time. Melina then moved the team up to 16th. To make up a full ‘B’ team, Capuccine Rousset missed some celebrations at a family gathering but then dashed off home. Maddie Casey was not at her best on the second lap but didn’t lose any places. Also having her first race for a long time, Lilly Salkeld was pleased to get involved again and brought the team home 30th.
Our next best result was in the Under 13 Girls relay. Led off by Sasha Mueller in 19th place who did well as there were 39 runners on the first 2k lap. Then Charlotte Edge moved the team up to 15th before Lily Dafter, in her unaccustomed role as anchor, brought the team home in 17th place. Our ‘B’ team did surprisingly well although newcomer Maisie Hugill was running in training shoes and lost six places in the muddy woods. The team was also disqualified because I had not registered her in the team. Unofficially they finished 27th.
After Olivia Sparks got them off to a fine start in 23rd place, Zenia Gordon then blasted round in 8:26 which was faster than two of the ‘A’ team. The ‘C’ team were also successful with Analesse Schoenen on the first lap running well. Mabel Salkeld had her first race of the season and made up five places before another newcomer, Christina Brask-Tyrrell brought them home in 31st place.
The Under 13 Boys team were again weak due to half-term holidays. Even so, they finished 19th out of 28 teams. Led off by Alfie Turner having the third fastest Valley boy’s time, he was in 11th position. Morris Rock had a decent run to finish 16th before Jifar Ahmed brought the team home 19th out of 28 teams.
For the Under 15 Boys relay I’m afraid that we were well outclassed. With Basil Rock down in 21st place on lap one, things got worse on lap two when Nelson Gordon slipped back to 26th. Although Shami Umashankar picked up six places the team could only finish 20th.
Results.
U13 Boys. A Turner 7:38 (22nd fastest of 94); M Rock 8:24; J Ahmed 8:41. Team 24:43; 19 of 28.
U13 Girls.‘A’ S Mueller 8:21 (41st/117); C Edge 8:28; L Dafter 8:36. Team 25:25; 17/34
‘B’ O Sparks 8:32; Z Gordon 8:26; M Hugill 9:12. Team 26:10; unofficial 27/34
‘C’ A Schoenen 9:20; M Salkeld 9:38; C Brask-Tyrrell 9:48. Team 28:46; 31/34
U15 Boys B Rock 7:22; N Gordon 7:50; S Umashankar 7:19 (46/93). Team 22:40; 20/27
U15 Girls ‘A’ P Poupart-Lafarge 8:24; N Murphy 8:12 (51/111); M Duer 8:17. Team 24:53; 16/31
‘B’ C Rousset 8:37; M Casey 9:07; L Salkeld 9:11. Team 26:55; 30/31
U17 Women. C Buckley 8:32 (3/58); A Casey 9:54; L Cheshire 9:37. Team 28:03; 9/16