DEDICATED Sally Hogan finished first overall for the season thanks to a sixth placed finish in the final Midland Women’s Cross Country League Division Two meeting of the season at Aldersley, Wolverhampton, on Saturday.
Champion Hogan was only seven seconds behind final race winner Beth Hawling of Cheltenham Harriers.
Hogan was followed home in the Black Country by B&R team-mates Tamara Freeman (16th), Lucy Bristow (78th), Em Stevens (107th), Dagmar Prinzing (120th), Jane Anderson (121st) and Holly Smith (127th) who took a fall, resulting in cuts and bruises, but picked herself up to complete the course.
ON THE same course on Sunday, B&R’s U17 women’s team created a piece of history as they became the first squad from the club to win an overall age group title in the West Midland Young Athletes Cross Country League.
Beth Sykes is part of the team and she had even more to celebrate as a third-placed finish on the day helped her to overall top spot.
She was followed in Sunday’s race by team-mates Amy Mijovic-Couldwell (ninth), Ellen Bowen (tenth), Anna Nicod (17th) and Alice Battey (24th) as the team also triumphed on the day.
Trenten Roberts finished 41st in the U17 men’s race, whilst on a by now very cut up course Natalie Hatfield finished sixth in the U15 girls’ event and Sophie Groom came 22nd.
In the boys’ race in the same group group, Ty Adkins was 44th, Josh Keyte 54th and Harry Williams 65th.
Esme Ranger was 55th in the U13 girls’ event, Lucy Young 55th and Josie Mawdsley 77th, whilst there were B&R celebrations in the boys’ race in the same age group as Finnan Robins clinched third place to finish in the same position overall. Leo Merritt was 22nd and Jake Nash 28th.
Nathan Sanders secured second place and fourth overall in the U11 boys’ competition and Matthew Bevins was third both on the day and overall.
Then came William Pridden (11th), Samuel Hembry (12th), Willem Hembry (16th) and Thomas Mawdsley (21st) to help B&R to victory on the day and silver medals overall.
Lexie Robins led the way with 13th in the U11 girls’ race and was followed by Hannah Dale (31st), Georgie Hensey (45th), Eve Freeman (56th), Megan Charles (73rd) and Olivia Sharpe (77th).
The next cross country fixture is the Gloucestershire meeting at the Prince of Wales Stadium in Cheltenham on Saturday, followed by the Rugeley ten-mile on Sunday.
