–Report by Lucy—
Halton Hills Cross Country
On Thursday 3rd October, three Vale athletes took on the Halton Hills Cross Country race, a 7.5mile race through Wendover Woods. James Davis was the first to finish in 5th place (51mins 13secs) with Mark Baines (52mins 10secs) not far behind in 7th. Amanda Esslemont (1hour 8mins 34secs) was the third Vale athlete home in 29th place and 2nd vet40 female.
Chiltern League – Match 1
On the 12th of October, the 2024/25 cross country season was kicked off at Keysoe, Bedfordshire. This is the furthest race in the league for many of our athletes to travel to so a massive well done to those who attended. The course is relatively flat but the water jump (which thankfully wasn’t too full after the amount of rain we have had) adds to the challenge and can make it one of the more exciting races in the league.
The U11 girls team made up of Shona (16th), Poppy (26th), Annabelle (36th), Aria (37th) and Grace (39th) finished a respectable 8th in the round. The U11 boys team finished 5th in the round and this was achieved by Mav (10th), Bailey (23rd), Jenson (29th), Cooper (30th), Tom (33rd) and Charlie (38th).
The U13 girls didn’t have enough athletes to make a team but well done to the sole Vale runner Myriam who came 54th. Our U13 boys team had a great turn out with Luca (2nd), Peter (20th), Joe (25th), George (31st), Andrin (34th), Devon (39th), Dexter (41st) and Zane (43rd) helped the team to 5th place.
Both the U15 team had plenty of Vale athletes out and both teams finished 7th for the round. The U15 girls team was made up of Gabriella (11th), Sophie (26th), Elena (31st), Annabelle (33rd), Natalija (34th), Annabel (37th), Tilly (39th), Mariia (42nd) and Demi (43rd). Our U15 boys team consisted of Zachary (21st), Digby (32nd), James (39th), Josh (42nd), Tom (50th) and Nicolas (51st).
It was a small turn out for the U17/U20 teams with only 1 finisher in the U17/20 Women’s race. Well done to Iona for finishing 39th. The U17/20 men’s race we had 3 athletes, Seth (8th), Rhys (40th) and Joseph (43rd), which was enough for a team position of 5th place for the round.
As always we had a superb turnout from our senior athletes which is reflected in the team results. Well done to our senior women Sophie Delderfield (15th), Chloe Pollard (34th), Amanda Esslemont (65th), Victoria Sheldon (96th), Heather Fallaize (113th) and Sue Barnes (123rd) who helped the senior women’s team to 11th and the veteran women’s team to 9th. On the men’s side we had Nathan Jones (9th), Peter Huck (23rd), Mark Baines (54th), Archie Lynch (82nd), Mark Fallaize (113th), Andrew Rolt (116th), Ben Riley (122nd), Andrew Byerley (134th), Conor Richardson (140th), Stephen Parsons (147th), Adam Johnson (153rd), Marcus Maxwell (161st), Tim Jones (168th), Mark Richards (199th) and Trevor Lynch (211th). In the first round, the senior men’s team finished 9th and the veteran men’s team finished 14th.
Overall it was a brilliant turnout for our club and a massive well done to everyone who turned up on the 12th to compete. We had some brilliant results, so all of our athletes should be proud of themselves. We would like to say a massive thank you as well to all of the parents who sacrificed part of their day to ensure that their child could come and compete for the club and for also getting all of the athletes to the venue on time.
Xterra Sardegna Off-Road Triathlon
He was awarded the Special Achievement award at our club awards evening and Jamie Pugh lived up to that with a fantastic 6th place at the Xterra Sardegna off road triathlon in Italy. The event involved a 1.5km swim, 30km cycle and a 10km run. Jamie was 23rd after the swim, 9th after the cycle and rose to 6th while setting the quickest running stage on the day (41mins 37secs!)
Amsterdam Marathon
Grace Rowland competed in the Amsterdam Marathon on 20th October and ran a superb 3hours 36mins 34secs on her debut at the distance!
