Encouraging start to season for new Stratford AC skippers
NEW Stratford AC cross country captains Malcolm Bowyer and Danny Tolhurst got their tenure off to an encouraging start in the first Birmingham League Division Two meeting of the season at Telford.
In bright sunshine and on a flat grassy course, hopes were high that a strong team could continue the progress that the club made last year — and they didn’t disappoint.
Newly-crowned athlete of the year Oscar Barbour led the team home with an excellent 18th (31.57). Barbour was also second under-20 to finish.
He was followed by Tim Hutchinson (34th, 32.32) who is in terrific form at the moment and who was moving through the field in the second half of the race.
Rich Shephard, back racing after recovering from serious injury, was next home (48th, 33.00), just ahead of debutant Mark Hamer (51st, 33.05).
Fergus Allison (59th, 33.22) possibly paid for an enterprising start that saw him competing in the lead group for the first part of the race, while Josh Newman (71st, 33.51) completed the A team, scoring six with a typically gutsy race.
The team score of 281 points for seventh place was arguably one of the best ever team performances and with positions in the team fluctuating throughout the race, there is plenty of internal competition to drive future improvement.
A schoolboy error meant Wayne Vickers (105th, 35.03) had to twice stop to retie his laces and he was followed by Kieran Tursner (115th, 35.29) who looked very strong throughout and was picking up places in the latter part of the race.
Next was David Smyth (143rd, 36.12) with a typically consistent run and James Cusack (156th, 36.28) continued the excellent form he has been showing during the triathlon season.
Malcolm Bowyer (193rd, 38.17) was disappointed with his run, while Mike Sheppard completed the B team with another solid run (237th, 41.18). The B team also finished seventh on the day.
Completing the Stratford contingent was David Jones (255th, 43.09), who was always just ahead of Mike Barrie (260th, 43.29) despite Barrie’s efforts all the way to the line to close the gap. A season-long battle between the two beckons.
Another debutant, Gavin Lambert, was 275th (46.29). Now that he has sampled the delights for the first time, Lambert will be better prepared for future races.
