On a pleasantly mild October day the opening Cross County fixture of the 2013/14 season got underway at a wet Markeaton Park in Derby for round 1 of the North Midland league, and there were some outstanding performances from the small contingent of the Middle Distance squad who competed.
U15 girls & U13 Boys combined race over 3.3km was first off with Henri Codling the sole U13 KTH representation making an excellent start to his campaign, after a cautious start he powered his way to a top 10 finish, completing the race in 13:13 for 8th position. Also running a good race and making an excellent start was Claudia Nevett who ran a strong race to also finish in 8th position with 13:48, she was well supported with Sophie Moss running well for second scorer with a solid 19th position (14:14), and Rebecca Hughes in 25th (15:12), and Any Robison in 29th (15:34) ensuring the team finished in a respectable 5th position.
Next was the combined U15 Boys & U17 women race competing over 4.7km, with sole representative Ethan Mehmet running a solid race in 23rd with 17:08, and Fran Ashworth also the sole KTH representation running a good opener for 13th position in 20:12
Claudia kelsell competing at U20 category got her campaign off to a great start running excellently over the 6km course to finish 4th in her age group with 28:13, and 19th overall in the senior woman’s combined race.
Liam Kirk tasting the senior men’s 10km distance for the first time as an U20 also ran a solid race to finish 13th in his age group, 108th overall with a respectable 41:00. In the SM race there were a handful of KTH athletes competing, with Neil Tandy first finisher in 94th position with 39:58, David Edwards in 100th (40:25) & Andrew Clawson 120th & 12th V40 (41:58)
Jack Hope competing for the U17 men ran a good race over the 6km course to finish in 11th position with 24:27
The best performance of the day came in the combined U11 race when Dylan Bowley ran superbly to power his way to victory with an excellently timed finish over the somewhat shorter than stated 2km course to win the race in 4:14 four seconds ahead of the twin Watson-Quilter brothers who finished 2/3rd in an identical 4:18!
Not to be outdone Emily Williams competing as a bottom year U13 also ran a superb race to finish strongly in 2nd position over the 3km course with 10:30 to show she will be a force to be reckoned with over this coming XC season.
With much higher numbers of KTH athletes expected for the next round being held a Corby on 09th November we hope to build on this solid XC opener.
Well done to all athletes who competed.