Back With a Bang.

And they're off - The U13s boys team on their way to claiming 2nd place overall. The final table after Sunday's West Midlands Young Athletes XC League fixture with the club finishing in a magnificent 2nd place out of 21 clubs competing and being beaten only by the host club. Okay I'm 100% biased but pride of place for me this week goes to our 52 junior heroes who finished 2nd out of 21 clubs in last Sunday's first junior XC league fixture for 18 months, only being beaten by the host club. Elsewhere it was another week of some pretty monumental events that were competed in by club members. We have Hannah Osborne's possible Pulitzer Price winning report on Ironman Mallorca. I'm not sure how much longer they can get away with calling these events IronMAN, with the likes of Emma Bexson competing so magnificently but hey, what do I know. We have Lesley Kirk's wonderful report on doing what she does - multi day, long, treacherous and extremely hilly events. Susan Hunt tells us about her 33rd official marathon. Yes that's right - 33rd. Chris Bloomfield tells us about his 10 miler down south and there's Adrian Mason's report on the Oxford half plus lots and lots of photos. Another busy week. Take care Best wishes David Jones View this email in your browser The U11 girls team. The U11 boys team. The match winning U13s girls team. The 2nd placed U13 boys team. The U15s girls team. The U15s boys team. West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League. Fixture 1 - Newbold Revel Goodness, after 18 months away I had forgotten what an emotional roller coaster a Junior XC fixture is. This one may have been somewhat quieter than normal due to the absence of our resident caterwaulers Emily and Cindy but what it lacked in sound it more than made up for in the sheer quality of performance by our talented endurance group. There seemed to be far more dogs than I remember from previous fixtures. Maybe the league should introduce a new category. There were 52 of our juniors competing on the day with our U17 men just finishing in first place with 583 points to BRAT's 582. Our U13 girls also finished in first place overall. They were all simply outstanding. Finishing 2nd overall and only being beaten by the host club Rugby and Northampton, they certainly did hit the ground running - pun intended. The gap of 175 points may seem substantial but the fact that Alex Adams' earned 200 points for winning his race puts this gap in to perspective. True to form, as the races were due to start the rain came down. It really would not be a junior XC fixture without rain. Many of the U13s and above had represented the club in previous XC seasons but my, how they've grown in the intervening 18 months. It happens I guess. Funny story - as Theo Skirvin stepped inside the…