THE second fixture in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League took place at Aldersley Park in Wolverhampton last Sunday.

The recent rain provided a challenging course with a gruelling uphill start but it did not hinder the junior Halesowen Athletics Club athletes.

The under 17 girls race saw Birchfield claim the top three spots with Karys Amory taking the win in 15.08.

First in for Halesowen was Isabel Hall who claimed 23rd in 18.22 and who was quickly followed in by team mates Chloe Fitzpatrick in 25th (18.38) and Lydia Wilkinson in 26th (18.53) placing them sixth out of the 11 clubs who provided full teams.

Two of the under 17 men broke the top 10 in their race. Birchfield’s Will Richardson won in 15.34 with Halesowen’s Niall Geraghty placing fourth in 16.57 and Joshua Timmins finishing ninth in 17.14. Keiran Walker finished 38th in 19.11 placing the team fifth.

Thomas Gill was first in for the club in the under 15 boys race taking 29th in 12.21 with Zoltan Remetei taking 49th in 12.54, Sam Taylor 54th (13.11), Jack Macfarlane 58th (13.21) and Fred Thompson 61st in 13.28 placing the team 4th.

The under 15 girls provided the day with the strongest of teams placing first overall.

Wolverhampton’s Amelia Samuels developed a strong lead to win in 11.47 but was followed in by Halesowen’s Abigail Saker (3rd, 12.10), Lily Higgins (5th, 12.23), Katrina Simpson (6th, 12.25), Livvy Worth (7th, 12.26) and Casateria Ferreira 18th in 12.49.

In a huge field of 171 athletes, the under 13 girls race saw Orla Walker first in for the club placing 15th in 9.31. Grace Pritchard took 35th in 9.50, Kitty Luscombe 36th in 9.50, Kodi Davy 49th in 10.06 and Satara Ferreira 54th in 10.08 giving the team a 6th place finish.

The under 13 boys race saw Ethan Vine place ninth in 8.36, Jake Lowe taking 13th in 8.39, Theo Sims-Woodhouse 41st in 9.18 and Joshua Turner 61st in 9.35 to place their team fourth overall.

Halesowen’s Sam Mannings had a fantastic under 11 boys race finishing in second place and just one second behind the winner, Jake Minshull from Coventry Godiva who finished in 5.35. Another two seconds later, Max Price took third for Halesowen.

The race which saw a field of over 120 competitors saw Halesowen’s Joss Camden take 15th in 5.53, Lewis Mallard 32nd and James Ferreira 55th in 6.21 placing them 3rd out of 19 in the team results.

It was a home win in 5.44 for Wolverhampton’s Ailya Westwood in the under 11 girls competition. First in for Halesowen was Eleanor Stark in 20th place (6.21). In 22nd Falan Malone-Priest finished in 6.33 with Jemima Vaughan-Hawkins taking 38th in 6.41 and Ryley Malone-Priest 44th in 6.47. Isabella Powell also made the scoring zone taking 47th in 6.47 with the team finishing 6th.

In the overall team results Halesowen finished 3rd with 6166 points behind Rugby and Northants (6744 points) and Wolverhampton and Bilston (6236).