A mixture of illness and injury meant that a potentially strong BAC Senior Mens' Team for the third fixture of the Hampshire Cross Country League season was weakened, but nevertheless a full team competed and, provided nothing goes seriously wrong with the final two fixtures the Team should retain its Division 1 status. Jacek Cieluszecki and Steve Way both finished in the top ten, of a total field of 250, and the ever-present Robin Copestick also ran well to finish 31st. Nick Kenchington, also ever-present, and Andy Gillespie completed the BAC team, both making a vital contribution to survival in Division 1. The Team were 7th of 10 teams on the day, and its aggregate position is 6th. BAC were represented by three Junior Boys - for more information please click here for Jim Dence's report. Jim and Harrison Sheehan competed in the U13 Boys' race and, in the U15 Boys' race, Seb Hearn was running in a BAC vest for just the second time. Unfortunately neither Elsa Charlwood nor Jim's sister Bridget were unable to run due to viruses, but Bridget remains the 4th aggregate individual U15 Girl, based on the two best performances so far.

Results (BAC):

Senior Men
5. Jacek Cieluszecki 31.45; 9. Steve Way 32.15; 31. Robin Copestick 34.00; 132. Nick Kenchington 39.39; 207. Andy Gillespie 45.00. There were 250 finishers.
U15 Boys
42. Seb Hearn 14.50. There were 59 finishers.
U13 Boys
49. Jim Dence 12.24; 71. Harrison Sheehan 13.12. There were 84 finishers.

Junior Report by Jim Dence

Yesterday three of Bournemouth Athletic Club’s finest headed up to Popham on a perfect day for racing. The athletes competing were Jim Dence and Harrison Sheehan in the U13 boys and Seb Hearn in the U15 boys. Unfortunately illness prevented both Bridget Dence and Elsa Charlwood from being able to run.

The U13’s race was eagerly awaited by my Dad as we had struck a deal that if i made into the top 50 a large McDonald’s meal was on the house!!

As expected the boys went tearing off from the downhill start and on a fast course Harrison and I worked hard to run a steady paced race, picking off fellow runners as we went around the course. These tactics paid off for me, to move up 15 places from Goodwood to come in 49th...yes those chips tasted good!! Harrison , hampered by a heel injury battled hard to come in 71st from 84 runners.

Now we eagerly awaited the U15 boys race and for BAC’s Seb Hearn sporting his new XC spikes! Seb ran a fine race as he worked his way up the field. On his second time out in a BAC vest he went up an admirable 24 places on his Goodwood result to come in 42nd. On the downhill run to the finish he was absolutely flying, overtaking 5 people including a runner about twice his size!!!!

We were all pleased with our performances and we can’t wait for the next meeting on home turf at Kings Park.