When the Announcer gave the leading positions at the Jubilee stone on the first leg (over half way round the course) and Bristol wasn’t mentioned in the top ten teams I confess to being a little concerned. I felt confident that we had a good strong team and capable of at least getting a medal.

It was with great relief that Dan came into sight at the bottom of the hill, which marked the finishing straight in fourth place. A great performance from the young man who had made his comeback in the Clevedon road relays the week before.

Ben Robinson kept the pressure on the Leaders City of Stoke with another strong run reducing the deficit to eight seconds and lifting the team up into second spot.

The stage was set for Craig Peters to blaze around the course to within four seconds of the course record and fastest time of the day, a mere thirty six seconds faster than second best.

The ‘B’ team of Chris Knight, Alastair Quaile and Jamie Golding also performed very well on the day, finishing a credible twelfth position and less than a minute outside of prizes.

Team selection can be a tricky thing, especially if the athletes are new to the Club and have little race experience. The Under 17 Men had previous performances to help with selection but it was harder to select the teams in both Under 15 and 13 and these races did throw up a few surprises!

Under 15’s

Nick Todd and Callum Fisher had represented either Schools or won area championships between them but Matthew Berwick had given us little to go on.

It was surprising to see Matthew ahead of both Callum and Harry Preston at the end of leg one.

Leg two saw Sean Hazell and Rob Witham working together, trying to catch the teams in front and both ending up with respectable times.

The final leg and Nick Todd, who clocked the tenth fastest time of the day, hauled the ‘A’ team up to sixth while Edward Ponsonby (B) held onto eleventh place.

Under 13’s

Matt Peters delivered another praiseworthy performance on leg one coming home in third place. Louis Cockle made a welcome appearance running for the ‘B’ team. George McDermott and Andrew Mattis both did well to get round on the 3.86 km course. When Tom Willcox was unleashed on the final leg, you may have been forgiven for thinking the course record would soon be broken but alas the Hill and distance took its toll and Tom had to make do with a respectable time.

The day produced some very good performances and we would like to thank all of you for taking part and look forward to seeing you all race on the Cross Country circuit.

Dave Taylor