There were some special performances from the youngsters today at Sandwell Valley Country Park, West Bromwich. The course was fast and undulating with the first few races run in cold frosty conditions. As the day progressed and the sun shone, the frost turned to mud making the conditions less than ideal for the final races.
Individual winners were Amy Griffiths (U13 Girls) and Lucy Crookes (U17 Girls) whose dominant front running left their competitors in their wake. Louisa Monk put in her best performance yet and finished with a thrilling sprint finish to snatch second place behind Lucy and to help the U17 Girls to win the team event on the day and to place her third individually overall. Catherine Robertson (12) and Amy Danaher (16) completed the team to leave the Coritanian's team in a strong position going into the next two races with a healthy 47 point lead over Royal Sutton Coldfield.

The U11 Girls were out in force today and they managed to reduce the gap on team leaders Royal Sutton Coldfield to 26 points. The performances by these girls were especially rewarding because the majority of them competed in the Primary School races at Western Park yesterday. Eleanor Long put in another confident performance to place third in the race and to be the second placed individual overall. Shannon Anderson was the next Leicester athlete home after she worked through the field to claim 5th place in the race and this resulted moved her to 5th place in the overall standings.
Xander Tansey (U13 Boys) tracked the leaders throughout his race and lost by a narrow margin to finish in third place. His placing makes him the second placed athlete in the overall standings.
This was another successful weekend for Coritanian youngsters at Newbold Comyn competing in the West Midlands Cross Country League. The course was very wet and muddy underfoot and the steep hill claimed many victims throughout the course of the day. Thankfully the rain pretty much held off until the last moments but the blustery conditions were an additional factor for competitors to cope with on the day – proper cross country!
There were three individual winners, each of them successfully defending their first league race wins and heading the individual competitions in their age groups. They were Sam Elliott U11 Boys, Amy Griffiths U13 Girls and Lucy Crookes U17 Girls.

The Under 17 girls team are also leading the team challenge 1174 points with a 25 point advantage over Tipton Harriers 1149 points. Following on from Lucy's win were strong performances from Louisa Monk (3), Catherine Robertson (10) and Amy Danaher (15).
The Under 17 boys put on marvellous display today by accumulating the most points on the day in this age group with a magnificent 567 point tally. Elliott Hart lead the charge (4) closely followed by Liam Phelan (6), Stephen Maddocks (26) and Danny Callow (32). Unfortunately, they are lying in 14th place overall with 757 points because they did not field a complete team in the first race. Liam is currently the 6th place overall athlete in the individual standings.
Eleanor Long improved on last times 4th place to lead the Under 11 girls to a second place finish. Eleanor started back in the field and worked her way into second place. Shannon Anderson finished five places better than her last placing in 6th place. This leaves Eleanor in 2nd place overall and Shannon in joint 6th place overall in the individual standings.
The Coritanians are in a healthy position with individual and team results that saw them win 3 individual races. The course was fast with a slightly challenging hill at the finish and it was heavy underfoot in some areas.
The Under 17 girls entered a team for the first time in several years. Lucy Crookes was in fine form and had a commanding lead throughout the race and won the race in superb style. She was supported by team mates Louisa Monk (7), Catherine Robertson (10) and Amy Danaher (15). This strong team performance has put the girls in the lead with 585 points with Tipton in 2nd place with 579 points. In the U13 girls race Amy Griffiths won her race with a 26 second margin over second placed athlete, Nicole Bailey Halesowen. Amy took the race out hard and was never under any pressure. Livvy Tansey had a final flourish to finish in 8th place. The girls were backed up by Rachel Borrows (30), Nettie Burd (36), Becky Saunders (57) and Catherine Jones (142). The team are in joint second place overall with Royal Sutton Coldfield on 875 points with Halesowen in first place with 911 points.
The third individual win came in the U11 boys race where Sam Elliott took the honours after a hard fought race. Sam went out with the leading pack and worked his way to the front, where he broke away with about 600m to go. Sam's team mates were Ben Crookes (21) and Reece Thomas (47).
The U11 girls were out in numbers today and they put in some confident performances. For many it was their first 'outing' for the club on the country. Eleanor Long ran a confident race, staying with the leading pack and finishing in a fine 4th place. She was followed by Shannon Anderson (11), Bronya Bird (15), Niamh Kirk (19), Lucy Whitehead (35), Chloe Cotterill (55), Molly McCallister (56), Olivia Bramley (59), Katie Saunders (66), Lucy Perry (74) and Sarah Jones (81). This leaves the girls in second place overall with 921 points and trailing Royal Sutton Coldfield by just 20 points.
In the U15 girls Freya Vincent, last years U15 champion, was in fourth place after the first lap but she worked hard and was rewarded with second place. Megan Fairbrother (8), April Beeby (17), Bethan Elliott (45) and Jasmine Mellor (56) put the team in 4th place with 877 points behind leaders Cannock and Staffs 934 points. Special mention must go to Bethan who was not due to be running but who donned various peoples running kit to complete the race for the team points!
In the U13 boys Xander Tansey found himself in a hotly contested race with several of the boys tussling for the top positions. Xander pushed on with 800m to go and was rewarded with second place. His fellow team mates were Zak Anderson (38) and Jed Halpine-Mecabe (75). In the U15 boys bottom aged Jonathan Monk finished in a commendable 33rd place.
In the U17 boys Liam Phelan finished in a creditable 11th place.
Coritanian athletes produced fine performances across the board at Uttoxeter with five individual winners out of the nine races run. The strength and depth of the squads meant that there were also 4 gold team medals, 1 silver team medal and 1 bronze team medal making this a very successful start to the winter season.



Tremendous performance by the U13 Girls
The highlight was the outstanding performance of the U13 girls - a team score of less than 100 points and packing 4 runners in the space of 15 seconds in a field of that size was a bit special! The girls also ran with great maturity pacing their effort very well knowing that the last part of the course was very tough - at half distance we were scoring around 130 points but they all managed the very steep climb towards the end of the race in fine style and continued their effort off the top of the climb to the finish gaining around 10 places each for a final total of 90.
Amy Griffiths made a tremendous debut in 14th place superbly supported by Megan Fairbrother, Tilly Abraham and April Beeby. In addition to Amy it was also Tilly's first run in 'The National' whilst for the more experienced Megan and April it was their 3rd successful performance at this level.That's 3 medals in consecutive years for this age group!
Emily Orton also ran very well finishing only 6 seconds behind April which would have been more than enough to hold the silver medals had one of the first 4 faltered!
In the other races there were fine runs from Jake Kench in the U15 Boys and Jonathan Monk and Liam Phelan in the U13 and U17 Boys respectively
The U15 girls suffered from being below strength through injury and illness but Freya Vincent can take a lot of credit for her 56th place in these circumstances

Some Highlights from the girls events:-
Coritanian U13s were outstanding - there were great runs from April Beeby and Amy Griffiths in 4th and 5th places respectively with Tilly Abraham and Megan Fairbrother providing excellent support close behind - only 21 seconds between first and fourth counters!!
Team result
1st Leicester Coritanian A 37 pts
2nd Royal Sutton Coldfield 49 pts
3rd Mansfield Harriers and AC 114 pts
6th Leicester Coritanian B 166 pts
Coritanian U15s achieved a very pleasing 3rd place

Freya Vincent ran a superbly judged race to finish 8th and she had good backing from Georgie Brookes, Sarah Dias and Helena Smith
All four of these girls are eligible for this age group again next year!
Team result
1st Mansfield Harriers 40 pts
2nd Royal Sutton Coldfield 93 pts
3rd Leicester Coritanian AC 114 pts
1st Andy Wetherill Redhill, 29:34
5th Rob Sheen Leicester Coritanian AC, 30.22 - V45 Bronze