The Dorset County Cross Country Championships were combined with the final Wessex Cross Country League fixture at Canford School on Sunday 14 December, and both produced medals and wins for BAC. The full results for the League race aren’t yet available, but the Championship results show no fewer than 6 medals for BAC athletes. Rob McTaggart, who completed the course in 26.54, won Gold, to become no less than the County Cross Country Champion for 2014, and the Bronze medal was won by Simon Munro, finishing in 27.32. A Gold medal was also won by Nikki Sandell, the winner of the Veteran Women competition, and a Silver medal in the U20M competition went to Jamie Grose, with Joe Arundel winning the Bronze. Jamie‘s and Joe‘s times were 26.54 and 27.39 respectively. Bridget Dence continues to impress in her new age category, winning the U17W Bronze medal, finishing in 16.57 in her race. Congratulations to all our medal winners, but let’s not forget our athletes who didn’t collect medals, but were nevertheless there to compete! Louise Price wasn’t far from the VW medals with her time of 21.58, although it has to be said that Ian Graham‘s time of 36.41 left him some way away from the medals! Much nearer were Sebastian Hearn, completing the U17M race in 17.24, and, in the U13B race, and Jim Dence and Tom Farwell both achieving times of 12.31. Tom is only just in this age category, and is showing considerable talent – one to watch for the future! Although the full League results haven’t yet been posted, it does appear that BAC were the first Senior Mens’ team.
Despite this clutch of medals and wins, the fact is that BAC‘s Cross Country season is staggering a bit at the moment. There’s still time to recover this, particularly at the next Hampshire Cross Country fixtures at Reading on 10 January and Bournemouth on 7 February. Also, don’t forget the SW Cross Country Championships at Bicton, 4 January 2015 www.sw-athletics-academy.co.uk (entries online still open, but hurry!), and the Southern Championships at Brighton on 24 January 2015, and the National Championships at Parliament Hill, London (a race EVERYONE should do at least once!) on 21 February 2015. If you want to enter these (it’s believed the club will pay the entry fees), you need to contact Billy McGreevy NOW!
One other event, not strictly cross country, which merits mention is the Rempstone Roast Duathlon, as Ross Smith again displayed his ability on off-road duathlons. Over a course consisting of 2.5 mile run, 10 mile bike and 2.5 mile run, Ross finished second with a time of 1.08.17, the winning time being 1.07.56. Ross‘ split times were 14.13 and 16.29 for the runs and 37.35 for the bike. The following week Ross went on the run a spectacular Poole Parkrun!